How do they differ in growth rate, appearance, etc in a home or lawn setting?

But I assume you are contemplating planting one or more. For that, the bicolor is both easier to find and less difficult to get growing. Albas around here do tend to have more interesting fall color, often with a lot of red and purple tones.

They're both obviously great trees. I haven't messed with enough roburs to say much on those.

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Robur leaves will get unsightly powdery-mildew in Ohio.

+oM

but much more exotic than the usual suspects .... the other foo.. lol ...

my fave is at the link

ken

+oM

But, my first tree book was Knowing Your Trees, by G. H. Collingwood, published by AFA. Their description of the white oak begins with this sentence; "Chief of all the oaks, and outstanding among trees, is the eastern white oak."

Well, in this forum I have previously made this statement: "The eastern white oak could well be the finest hardwood tree in the entire world." There may be a finer one, but I have not seen any evidence to make me think so.

First, I know of no hardwood tree that so commonly grows with such perfect form, whether in the forest, or in the open. It more commonly has a form and structure that resists storm damage better than any other hardwood tree. The only tree of any sort I would rank higher is the baldcypress.

It has a number of other virtues, including very long life, beautiful foliage texture, disease resistance, possible--not always--good autumn color, etc. And, it is not nearly as slow growing as some people think, but the growth rate of any tree depends a lot on the soil and other site factors. But white oak is extremely adaptable to different sites, growing well in wet bottomland sites as well as excessively well-drained ridgetops.

OK, all that being said, you will be happy with any of the trees mentioned. I might say that the English Oak is not quite up to the standard--in this country anyway--of Q. macrocarpa or Q. bicolor. I have travelled in England, and made special note of the English oaks, including some historic ones, but in my opinion, they don't come close to our eastern white oaks for form and general beauty. But I have some English oaks growing on my timberland in the MD mountains at an elevation of 2,700 feet, I do love them, and they have, for the first 25 years or so, after being planted as six inch seedlings, grown as fast as any tree I have ever seen, except for cottonwoods and willows. They are over 60 feet tall now, and 20 inches or more in diameter. But they are not as beautiful as white oaks--not even close. But here in hot and dry northern VA, English oaks do not grow nearly so fast, and white oaks will grow faster.

I have bur oaks of several strains, and swamp white oaks growing on my place just north of Winchester, VA. they are all wonderful trees. I have lots of other oaks growing, both foreign and domestic, and a good selection of hybrids. If I were to add one more oak to your list, it would be the American chestnut oak. This also has a reputation for being slow growing, but in a good deep rich soil, it will more or less match the growth rate of the others. For growth form, it is very close to the white oak, and is also very long lived.

--spruce

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White oak is one of my favorites, next to sugar maple. There's a nursery in Hendricks County, IN - Woody Warehouse Nursery - that specializes in growing oaks using the Rootmaker system. They have a pretty impressive selection of oaks!

Yes, it is really ridiculous that white oaks are so seldom in stock at any retail nursery. When we moved to Northern VA I found 5 at a little landscaping company's lot--not really a retail nursery, as such. Must have been left overs from some project. I bought three, but now wish I had bought all 5. In the 11 years since, I have not seen another one for sale anywhere in our area. They can be found--usually very small ones--on-line, but even Forest Farm doesn't have them.

They do tend to have as strong a taproot as any tree, which some see as a problem, but they do transplant well.

But, as we both know, swamp whites are wonderful, as are bur oaks, and others. I got a Hungarian oak from Forest Farm 4 years ago, and after not growing at all for 3 years, it is beginning to show promise now. Really pretty leaves! For a super fast starting oak, try burenglish hybrid!

I am trying the swamp chestnut, which I started from acorns. The jury is out on these here in Northern VA--mine are 4 feet tall after 3 plus years, but I am not yet sure how they will do here. They are not at all like the swamp white oaks, but they may not yet have shown much of their eventual "character."

--spruce

Directed at nobody in particular, I kid you not: One of the best ways I've seen-provided one is patient-to get native oaks and hickories started is to simply mulch your various planting beds. Squirrels will do the rest, although not necessarily where you wanted a tree planted! I must have seen a thousand such trees coming up in various mulched planting beds over the years. Obviously, doing this, you are starting from brand new seedling.

+oM

That cherrybark oak sounds like quite a tree.

+oM

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I can be such a jerk! I have thought about sending you a report many times, but for reasons I can't explain, or think of an excuse for, I never did. Sorry. You were so nice to send them.

OK, I planted them in three groups of three each and gave them hardware cloth protection from critters. One of the sites had a deer kick away the protection, so voles or something got them. All the other six grew. The first year we had an extreme drought--according to the US Drought Monitor site--so I had to water and water them. The next year they started to grow and put out three flushes of growth. This year, for some reason they are sputtering a bit. They are 30 to 45 inches tall.

I transplanted one from one of the groups of three to a new spot, and it is surviving fine with regular watering. Still too early to tell how they will ultimately do--we are so hot and dry here.

Poaky:

Yes, open grown chestnut oaks will often divide into several large ascending branches. Q. alba can do this also. But both usually have a good balanced structure and are resistant to storm damage. But white oak may have a somewhat better growth form than chestnut oak, at least some of the time.

With young white oaks the trunk may seem to be developing more than one leader, but then after three or four years, one will assert dominance, and the others can grow into nicely high arching branches. It is good not to try to prune to "shape-up" white oaks too hastily. I have less experience with, and fewer observations of chestnut oaks growing in the open. They are virtually never planted as ornamental trees--a shame.

Oh, something to remember about white oak--there is considerable genetic variation in all kinds of characteristics, including growth form. Here near where I live in Northern VA, there is a famous one on the grounds of Carter Hall--it has a spread of about 150 feet, and is only 75 feet tall. It has several very large low branches that just grow out and out and out. It is well over 5 feet in diameter. Amazing!

Then right across the street, in front of an old stone Episcopal church is another very large old white oak. It is more or less in the open also, but is growing very erect and tall with its branches arching upwards.

Anyone looking at these trees from a distance would never think they are both of the same species. But they are--trust me--both pure white oak, no hybridizing.

Tom:

Here is what I would say about Northern red oak: Chief of all the red oak group, and an outstanding tree. Next might be the Shummard, but northern red oaks are especially fine. And they produce the best wood for furniture of all the red oak group--a nicer and "cleaner" grain.

And as for the cherry bark oak--I think one has been recorded as the tallest growing oak in the US. I can't remember right now, but something like 170 feet.

--spruce

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On a golf course where I golfed weekly, there was an isolated group of 3 massive, open-grown oaks. The ones in view closest were obviously white oaks. While waiting once, I went over to investigate a big acorn crop. All 3 trees had nearly 3' dia trunks, but the one that was behind the others wasn't a white oak, it was a rock chestnut oak! Same size & branch structure, and a huge acorn crop too.

wisconsitom, I agree, my young oaks develop excellent form w/no pruning. 'Kreider' burr oak is especially handsome at nearly 25' tall.

+oM