How about grow incredibly slow. Have extremely dense wood that does dull anything sharp that comes into contact with it (sometimes trees have to be cleared to make room for paths/garden etc). Have no fall color. Pop up everywhere around here. It along with ulmus alata and white and green ash have a ridiculous germination rate around my house. Even the small branches are so firm that a slight brush against my body feels like nails scraping my skin. Very. Ugly. Leaves. Very short for a long time. I would rather have just about any other tree that is growing on my property that the blackjack oak. Heck, even my much disliked ulmus alata displayed a fantastic fall show last year while the blackjack oak either turned brown and fell or fell while turning brown. Does grow where no oak should be able to grow and does provide acorns for the wildlife as well as other normal tree stuff birds love. And by the way I have not planted any lollipop trees on my property. I do have one specimen blackjack oak that is about 30 feet tall with very nice form in the open that will never see a chainsaw if that makes you feel any better.

any chance at some pix .... or any other info.. besides the limb shedding .... are they understory trees? soil?? drainage?? where are you.. though they should be zone appropriate ... how big are they?? lawn chems used?? how much actual damage??? do they threaten the house or you??? more info please ken

No problem. Always good to find a local seed source anyway.

hard to suggest things.. when i have no clue where the sanctuary is???? oh.. somewhere in UT??? well ... anything in that nursery???? and anything the manager might recommend??? the multicultural comment was more for your wish for 10 of them.. but i am a collector .. i really see no use.. for more of one of anything .... so if i had space for 3 ... it would be 3 different trees ... i dont know my tree ranges well enough to be specific ... for UT ... and.. you say clayISH soil ... that is ONLY an issue as to how you plant it .. i doubt you will find any tree that cant cope with it ... check out the link related to PROPER PLANTING and dealing with clay ... and something tells me.. you might discover why your other trees did not survive ... something about the divergence of potting media to native soil.. and not bare rooting.. and not planting high in clay ... etc ... if you want thoughts on the sycamore.. how about a pic.. in a NEW POST.. titled as such.. and i am sure.. we can brainstorm it for you ... at the nursery pix.. why was the irrigation hose outside the pot.. how did that work??? also.. google : oaks native to ut there are 44 million suggestions.. lol .. and the third is about 3 oaks native to the UT desert ... whats that all about.. you guys have a desert ??? .. lol .. man.. UT must be like mars .. lol .. good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link