Cold hardiness

Future

2050

2100

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Published baseline for this location from 1991-2020.

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Well-suited

2050

Zone 7a

Plotwright

Projected zone for this same location in 2050 (2041-2070) using SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry).

Well-suited

In plain terms: This location is in Zone 6b today. Its hardiness profile is cold winters, and coldest nights are typically around -3°F. By 2050, the projected hardiness zone is Zone 7a based on SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry). That is a +0.5-zone shift from Zone 6b to Zone 7a by 2050.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Future

2050

2100

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 41 ecoregions — 38 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 suited today · 2 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Atlantic coastal pine barrens

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Blue Mountains forests

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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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Chilean Matorral

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What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun / Part shade

Water

Low water

Spacing

360"

Habit

Slow-growing deciduous tree with a broad, rugged, rounded crown; often shrubby when young

Care tips

•

Give it a dry-summer site and full sun — it is drought-adapted and resents irrigation; never plant it in an irrigated lawn.

•

Plant young, small stock: the deep tap root makes established trees very hard to move.

•

Be patient — it is slow-growing and often shrubby for its first couple of decades before the broad rounded crown develops.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant in full sun to part shade in well-drained soil that dries in summer. Drought-adapted via a deep tap root; can grow on dry sites unsuitable for other trees. Do not site it in an irrigated lawn — summer watering can cause root rot (OSU Landscape Plants).

Transplanting

The deep tap root makes transplanting of established trees difficult; move only young, small stock and disturb the root as little as possible.

Early growth

Growth is slow and the young tree is often shrubby and crooked-branched for its first couple of decades. Keep summer irrigation off the root zone once established.

Maturity

Slowly reaches roughly 40-90 feet with a broad, rugged, rounded crown (OSU Landscape Plants; up to about 65 feet per the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center). Long-lived. Acorns are produced once mature.

Propagation

Grown from acorns — sow fresh in fall, as oak acorns lose viability if they dry out. Seedlings grow slowly.

Pollination

Wind-pollinated

Wind-pollinated like other oaks — the March-May yellow-green-to-brown catkins (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center) shed dry pollen on the wind and do not feed bees or butterflies with nectar. Its habitat value is the acorn crop and the canopy, which provide food and cover for deer, small mammals, and birds.

Plants don't grow alone

Larval host

Moth

Polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus)

Seed forage

Mammal

Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

Seed forage

Mammal

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Shelter / habitat

Bird

Black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

Shelter / habitat

Bird

Downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)

Shelter / habitat

Beetle

Common eastern firefly (Photinus pyralis)

For people

Edible with preparation

The acorns are edible only after their bitter tannins are leached or boiled out, after which they can be ground into flour, used to thicken soups, or roasted as a coffee substitute (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center). Eaten raw or in quantity, both the acorns and the young leaves contain tannins that cause gastrointestinal distress; LBJ rates the toxicity low.

Native range

Native across 3 US states + 1 CA province.

AHS heat range

1-9

Native ecoregions

Naturally belongs in 15 ecoregions — its native range crosses a state or province each one spans (not necessarily this exact habitat).

Blue Mountains forests

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California coastal sage and chaparral

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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Eastern Cascades forests

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Klamath-Siskiyou forests

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Mojave desert

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North Cascades conifer forests

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Northern California coastal forests

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Northern Pacific Alaskan coastal forests

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Climate notes

•

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents Quercus garryana as native to the USA (CA, OR, WA) and Canada (BC), ranging from southwestern British Columbia south, chiefly west of the Cascades, to Marin County, California; it lists Sun / Part Shade / Shade, Dry-to-Moist soil moisture, and March-May bloom.

•

OSU Landscape Plants rates it hardy to USDA Zone 6 and describes a slow-growing deciduous tree with a broad, rounded crown, saddle-brown fall color, and a deep tap root that "likes dry soil in summer" — noting that summer watering can cause root rot, so it is not suitable in an irrigated lawn.

•

Tolerates cool to warm summer heat — a Pacific Northwest oak-savanna species spanning maritime British Columbia to the interior valleys of California; comfortable through warm-summer interior valleys but not an Extreme-tier desert tree. (See caveats on the zone upper bound.)

In the designer

Growth over time

336-756" tall · 168-504" spread

Reads as a real tree with a developing broad rounded crown; the slow, long climb to mature size.

Design roles: Focal point · Structure

Seasonal interest

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Filled = the plant has seasonal interest · ▾ now = your current season

Oregon white oak

At a glance

Related products

Why it matters

Cold hardiness

Heat tolerance

Where this plant fits

What it needs

Lifecycle

Pollination

Plants don't grow alone

For people

Native range

Climate notes

In the designer

Seasonal interest

Sources & citations