Scrub oak is perfect if you have a dry, sunny yard and need to add some year-round greenery. It has handsome, grayish-green leaves that slightly resemble holly leaves. Scrub oak can grow up to 20 feet tall if it isn’t pruned yearly. Scrub oak is native to California, prefers a dry environment and can easily survive California droughts.
Scrub Oak: The Basics
Scrub oaks, also called Gambel oaks, survive by gathering what little water is naturally in the air via their leaves. They grow best in sandy or even rocky soil. Scrub oaks are often seen growing on hillsides in the wild. Left to grow naturally, they grow in thickets, with new trees growing from a single massive taproot. Scrub oak is a long-lived shrub. It thrives even in areas decimated by wildfires.
Animals and insects depend on scrub oak for shelter and food. Scrub oaks produce acorns that sustain squirrels throughout the winter. Butterflies are attracted to the scrub oak’s yellow flowers as a food source and then lay their eggs on its branches; the offspring eat the vegetation in their larval stage. Scrub oak is an attractive, drought-resistant shrub that’s important to our state’s environment and to our native animal life.
Landscaping With Scrub Oak
Scrub oak looks at home in a naturally landscaped yard. It’s especially attractive if you have a redwood, ranch style or traditional Southwestern style home, but scrub oak can work with nearly any style home. We recommend scrub oak to homeowners who want to work with native plants and attract wildlife to their yards.
Hardscapes and scrub oaks go great together. Native grasses add elements of natural drama to your sunny, dry yard. If you’ve decided to grow drought-resistant flowers, fruits or vegetables, having scrub oaks in the yard to attract butterflies will help your other plants survive and produce more blooms and fruits.
A retaining wall with pruned scrub oaks on top and flowering grasses at the base will instantly make a bare yard look lush. You can use scrub oaks as a hedge around your house, particularly under bedroom and bathroom windows, as long as you keep them pruned short. If you want shade, you can let your scrub oaks grow to their natural height of 15-20 feet. In addition to making your yard look great, trees or shrubbery combined with hardscapes increase your property value.
Caring for Scrub Oaks
Scrub oaks require almost no maintenance on your part. We’ll will prune them in the fall and trim them before the spring growing season starts. Experts recommend no watering for scrub oaks. We’ll examine them for any sign of insect infestation. Remember not to panic over the caterpillars in the spring, but call us if you see oak galls. This insect infestation should be treated.
Things to Remember
• Scrub oaks are drought-resistant
• They require almost no irrigation
• Scrub oaks grown well in adverse conditions
• Butterflies are attracted to scrub oaks
Fill out our contact form or call us at 805-773-5395 if you’re interested in scrub oaks for your yard or if you have any questions not covered in this article. Evergreen Landscaping will be happy to give you a consultation about the best types of the best drought-resistant trees and plants for your yard.
I moved into a house with a mature scrub oak tree in backyard, about 20 feet tall. I love this tree! Thanks for sharing how to care for it and I will prune lower branches this Fall.