Mexican White Oak – A worthy addition to your landscape
Mexican White Oak
- Common name- Mexican white oak, Monterrey oak
- Botanical name- Quercus polymorpha
- Family- Fagaceae
- Native to- Texas
- Commonly found near the Devil’s River in the Val Verde country.
If you are looking for a strong, disease-free, pest-resistant, shady tree to plant in your landscape the Mexican White Oak tree is the solution for you. It can enhance the beauty of any landscape with its huge, dense canopy cover, eye-catchy leathery leaves. Furthermore, its low maintenance makes it more suitable to acquire a definite position in your landscape.
Some information about Mexican White Oak–
Mexican white oak or Monterrey oak is a medium-sized oak tree, commonly found near the Devil’s River in the Val Verde country. It is a sun-loving plant having a very high drought resistance capacity. It is a quick-growing plant having a growth rate of 4 feet per year. It requires very low water for its growth and development. Here are some bullet points showing the characteristic features of Mexican white oak or Monterrey oak.
- Medium-sized oak
- Plant height- 45-60 ft
- Trunk diameter- 2-3 feet
- Fast-growing/ Quick growing tree
- Growth rate- 4 feet per year
- Age- close to 100 years
- Sun-loving plant
- Water requirement- Low
- Drought tolerant
- Soil requirement- Neutral to alkaline pH up to 8.5
Mexican white oak is deciduous to semi-deciduous (Evergreen in some part of Mexico) plant in its growth habit. Depending upon the soil and location, the oak tree may lose its leaves for 2 to 6 weeks during the late winter or early spring.
Leaves-
Simple, thick, rounded, dark green, alternate leaves, which are 2 to 5” long. Leaves are serrated.
Young leaves after defoliation appears as red to peach-colored visual marvels, which gradually turns into green and then dark green after they get matured. Mature leaves show a velvety texture which adds the aesthetic appeal to the plant as well as to the landscape.
Bark-
Dark to light grey colored bark.
Flowers-
Male and female flowers appear in the same tree. Flowering occurs in the spring season.
Fruits-
Fruit is an acorn maturing in one year.
Propagation –
Propagation is done by planting the acorns
Now let’s discuss
Why Mexican White Oak is a worthy addition to your landscape
Here are some points which will convince you to consider the Mexican white oak or Monterrey oak to plant in your landscape.
1. Quick growth habit-
This plant is very efficient in terms of biomass production. It can grow to a height of 40 to 60 feet within a very short time interval. It can grow up to a height of 4 to 5 feet per year.
Although this plant has quick growth habits it solely depends on the local climate, soil, and management practices.
2. Disease resistant-
Other white oaks are prone to oak wilt. But Mexican white oak is an exception. It is pretty much resistant against the oak wilt.
3. Aesthetic appearance-
Thick, dense canopy cover attracts the people to look at the tree once for ever and force them to sit and enjoy under the shade of the tree.
It may be the peach to light green colored young leaves or dark green colored velvety matured leaves, at whichever time you see the oak tree, always it will make the experience so special and unique.
4. Lesser maintenance-
Since this plant is of quick-growing habit, initially a little care is needed in terms of training and pruning, while the plant is small, after that almost no or very little care is needed. Therefore this plant is ideal for a landscape.
Opinions
Since this plant is not very old and not grown from ancient times thus, there were no rock-solid detailed cultivation practices in the literature. This plant came into the limelight in the past few decades and the details cited above were analyzed.
If you are planning to add this to your landscaping then you will easily find it on amazon.
You can grow these trees and enjoy the natural beauty inside your garden enhanced by Mexican white oak.
