The Pin Oak Bonsai Tree, scientific name Quercus palustris, is a deciduous tree with a unique crown in that its bottom branches point downward.
It has medium gray, lightly furrowed bark and dark green foliage that has an attractive red-brown fall color. This hardy tree needs to be grown outdoors.
Additional Information
Family: Fagaceae
Scientific name: Quercus palustris
Common Names: Pin Oak, Swamp Oak, Water Oak, Swamp Spanish Oak, Spanish Oak.
Origin: Native to eastern North America, mainly in the eastern United States.
Appearance: It is a deciduous dense and twiggy tree with long, shiny, simple, alternate leaves and pendulous lower branches. Leaves are lobed, with five or seven lobes, and are dark green and shiny above and paler with tufts of hair along the veins on the underside. In the fall, leaves leaves turn red or brown and persist on the tree during the winter.
Flowering: This plant is monoecious, meaning male and female flowers are born on the same inflorescence. In spring, it produces small ornamentally insignificant flowers that are born on short stalks.
The male flowers appear as yellow-brown pendulous catkins and the female flowers in groups of 1-3. They form in the leaf axils just as the leaves begin to unfold.
Flowers are followed by fruits that are acorns with a cap covering only the very top of the small nut. It takes two growing seasons for the nuts to mature.
Outdoor/Indoor Use: Outdoors.
Light Requirements: It prefers full sun to partial sun.
Water Requirements: It grows best in continuously moist to wet, deep, very acidic soil but well-drained soil. Also, can tolerate drought. If soil is not acidic enough Pin Oak will develop a yellowing of the leaves.
Hardiness: Grows best in the USDA Zones 4a – 8b. This is a hardy tree that can tolerate cold down to -30F.
Insects and Diseases: Generally healthy and not affected by pests and diseases.
Propagation: By seeds.
