By Bill Ward
Published in The Boerne Star on October 24, 2003
If I remember correctly, oak wilt moved down here from Wisconsin or thereabouts. In Wisconsin, however, the infected landscape does not look so desolate as it does where oak wilt has moved through the Texas Hill Country. That’s because wooded terrain of Wisconsin has many different kinds of trees, and thus it is not as obvious when one species is removed. Killing off just one species of tree in some parts of the Edwards Plateau results in removing nearly all trees in those areas.
Too much of the Hill Country has a low diversity of tree species, for reasons both natural and man-induced. Apparently, the “ideal” Hill Country countryside for many people consists of mowed grassy slopes abundantly dotted with stately live oaks and, of course, covered with colorful wildflowers in the spring. This “ideal” landscape has no place for understory bushes and small trees, nor those larger “trash” trees, such as hackberry and cedar elm. Don’t even think about Ashe juniper (“cedar”)!
Hill Country landscapes with only trees and grasses but no understory “weeds” and shrubs are unnatural and out of ecological balance. The situation is even worse where the kinds of trees are few, especially if those trees are live oaks and red oaks. The results of oak wilt are devastating in those settings. One partial remedy is to increase the diversity of disease-resistant trees. Fall is a good time to plant trees in the Hill Country. The Operation NICE! (Natives Instead of the Common Exotics!) Plant of the Month for November is an oak-wilt-resistant tree, bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa). Bur oak is fairly fast-growing and long-lived, adapts to a variety of terrain and soil, and tolerates dry periods.
Bur oak is a handsome tree that can grow 80 feet tall or more. This tree stands out for its large leaves and acorns. Some of the multi-lobed leaves may be as much as a foot long.
The species name macrocarpa (big fruit) comes from the oversized acorns, up to two inches long. Rough moss-like fringes on the acorn cups give bur oak its other name, “mossy-cup oak.”
Bark on the bur oak is thick and corky. Insulation provided by the thick bark is said to allow bur oak to survive fires that kill many other trees. Cox and Leslie (“Texas Trees – A Friendly Guide”) point out that this bark also helps bur oak withstand weedeater lacerations. In Texas bur oaks grow most abundantly in north-central and east-central parts of the state. but a few are found on the Edwards Plateau. Kim Kuebell, an authority on Kendall County flora, knows where a few bur oaks grow naturally in the northern part of the county near an old Indian and pioneer trail.
Jan Wrede speculates that the trees grew from acorns dropped by Indian children or others at a campsite. It is not unreasonable to assume that people traveling along the trail from farther east had collected some bur oak acorns. These huge acorns seem to fascinate children and adults alike. Today some people collect large bur oak acorns to keep on their whatnot shelves. Bur oaks used in landscaping need room to grow large, and saplings need protection from browsing deer. The Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas provides free planting and care instructions for bur oak at the nurseries participating in Operation NICE!: Barkley’s Nursery Center, Boerne in Bloom Garden Center, Fair Oaks Nursery, Hill Country African Violets and Nursery, Maldonado Landscape and Nursery, and Where Wild Things Grow Native-Plant Nursery.
Let me end this column so that I can go outside to decide where I’m going to plant a bur oak or two. I knew there was something special missing from our yard. Bur oak!
