| By :
Victoria Gates
Do you have your eye set on a mature shade tree for your southern home? Planting a live oak tree might be for you. These wonderful sturdy trees, with their broad spreading branches, are a classic symbolic representation of Southern beauty and hospitality. Live oaks can have large spreading canopies or be trained to grow straight at a nursery. The best soil for one of these gorgeous giants is the common sandy coastal dirt, or damp rich soil on a stream or river bank, but these trees do well almost anywhere in the deep south. Planting a live oak tree in your yard should include checking for the right soil and conditions for optimal flourishing and health of the tree. The best development areas for planting live oak tree are zones seven through ten. Light requirements are full sun to partial shade, and the soil needs to be damp or wet. These trees do best with a fairly acidic soil, so pine mulch (or pine straw) is a great mulch to use around them. While they are useful as shade trees and street trees, you should plan on giving them a good deal of room to grow. Live oaks can live for centuries if treated with care. Live oaks keep most of their leaves through the year in the southern parts of their native range and are considered semi-deciduous. In the more northern parts of the United States where the air gets cooler the live oak trees are more deciduous, similar to other oaks, losing a greater portion of their leaves in the fall. When planting a live oak tree, you will need to keep in mind that they will need professional pruning from time to time. Pruning is best done during the wintertime or late summertime about every five years. Like other trees, when planting live oak tree, you need to dig a hole wider than the root ball and a bit shallower. Rough up the sides of the hole, or it will harden and make it difficult for the live oak roots to penetrate out into the surrounding soil. Loosely heap soil back into the hole around the roots, do not pack the soil down. The very top of the root ball should not be covered up with any dirt. When planting your live oak tree, make sure you have the tree positioned the way you will most enjoy looking at it before you fill in the dirt. Also make sure the tree is standing perfectly straight up. It should be watered immediately and regularly thereafter until established into the landscape, and be pruned yearly during the first few years. Your tree will be growing for you and your family to enjoy for many years to come!
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