would guess that for zone 6 the most coast tolerant oaks like virginiana, ilex, agrifolia, are not cold hardy enough. OTOH, don't think most of the hardy deciduous oaks are especially good coastal plants. several maples (acer plantanoides and pseudoplatanus), a hawthorne (crataegus crux-galli) and a number of pines (pinus nigra, p. thunbergii, p. resinosa, p. banksiana) and thuja occidentalis (arborviae) might be useful..

georgeinbandonoregon: Naturally in warmer climates you tend to have more options. To complicate matters further, Pinus nigra and Pinus thunbergii don't survive at all in my area for other reasons...beetles. That's why I started this little research plan. The developer who owned my parent's land planted a lot of those kinds of pines, and they ALL were killed off by an epidemic of beetles. I just dislike thuja. I've been trying to plant Pitch Pine, Blue Spruce and holly so far as my evergreen choices

Is crataegus crux-galli that salt tolerant? I'm confused by the hawthornes...ideally I want a rust resistant, salt tolerant native, but the species that are good from one standpoint aren't good from another. I'd been thinking of Washington Hawthorne or Cockspur Hawthorne. I'm not that familiar with Jack Pine...is it that salt tolerant? No one suggested that.

Anyway, back to oaks. I'm getting conflicting information on what oaks are salt tolerant. Most sources seem to agree on Black Oak. I've heard some sources say Scarlet Oak, Chestnut Oak, Post Oak or Northern Red Oak are salt tolerant.

FWIW, my suggestions are based on the "sunset national garden book" and they don't recommend any oak other than the evergreen ones (how completely correct they or any one else is always open to questoin) the "southern living garden book" recommends beach plum (prunus maritima), juniperus virginiana, american holly, and cryptomeria (perhaps not hardy in zone 6) and no oaks other than virginiana---does this prove much of anything---possibly not!!!. a good rule of thumb is if you don't already see oaks of some sort planted or naturally growing in coastal areas AND looking good in your general area and climate then you have good reason to go for those trees----if not then no matter what "experts" are telling you, then things are more problematic. good luck in your search.

The sessile oak (Quercus petraea) is forming thickets everywhere along the coast over here. They don't grow big due to the constant wind though, but they don't seem to mind the salt spray. Hardy to zone 3a.

sad to say, that oak is apparently extremely rare in cultivation in most of north america. OTOH, the closely related and similar looking q. robur ("english oak") is more common over here but don't know if it has the same tolerance of coastal conditions.

Bear oak (Quercus ilicifolia), very scrubby but has to be the most salt and wind tolerant native oak for the NE US. Quercus ÃÂâ rehderi a hybrid black and bear oak (more arboreal than the bear oak?). Supposedly found on Martha's Vineyard according to the USDA database. Get out there and find one then grow a bunch of it's acorns. Who knows what kind of neat F2 hybrids you will get out of it.

eorgeinbandonoregon, the "Southern Living" Garden Book seems to match my experience better, oddly. I've planted Beach Plums and it seems to survive even my incompetent gardening. Eastern Red Cedar seems to be what mother nature wants to grow here. (That's why I've been concerned with the hawthornes...I'd need something resistant to Cedar Apple Rust.) I've tried American Holly, but have trouble getting it established...the regular Home Depot Blue Princess holly seems pretty bullet proof, though.

Great suggestions, I'll have to research some of them.

No one has an opinion on the Black vs. Scarlet vs. Chestnut Oak issue?