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

The Bur Oak was a little over 7 feet tall when I planted from a 10 gallon container. I had to do quite a bit of cutting and pulling of the circling roots before planting it. I checked the Bur today and its finally putting on some new growth, the new shoots are only a few inches long in some places, but thats more than I had before. This may be the justificatin I need to keep it, maybe it will really start to take off next year. Had this oak been grown in a rootmaker pot, I wonder how much quicker the new growth would have started... Regarding your comment about transplant size/time to grow, I have another Bur oak that I planted 1 year after acorn germination (it was only 9 inches tall when I planted it). The first year it was in the ground it doubled in size (from 9" tall to 18" tall). This is its second year, and so far its put on 6" growth in multiple places. It leaved out 3 weeks before my 7' bur oak (which is still in the process of leaving out), but I don't know if the timing of the budding/new leaves has anything to do with tree health. I'm very curious to see if it can catch up to my slow to grow 7' Bur. I plan to buy another Bur Oak and/or Mexican White Oak from CTF regardless of if I decide to keep my existing 7' Bur. The west side of my house is 50' long, so I need more shade trees lined up - all I have on that side is one Chinese Pistachio.

Thanks poaky,I'll research Q.V. Live Oak. Might even see if they want to have a look with an eye toward another patient. I have my place for sale and developers generally doze everything in sight so they can create grades as they see fit before begaining construction. Needless to say it saddens me to think 40 years of planting and nurturing all my trees will wind up at the landfill but I believe this tree might be worth preserving. As I mentioned previously,only 2 or three come up each year so it's not like I can transplant several to a place of safekeeping. The five yo simply grew where it sprouted and I noticed the difference in winter 2013 because it was growing faster than average. Winter 2014 & 15 I transplanted one on my property,two on my son's property and one which remain's in a pot while decideing what I should do with it. I contacted Howard Garrett and Neil Sperry's offices hopeing for guidance but never heard back. I've had some good interaction with county agents and wildlife biologists working with A&M but direct contact with A&M staff usually fall's flat.

based on the pics of the oaks, I'd be guessing compaction, root damage. maples...any tree can lose a branch, if it's a maple, and it's just part of life. so an individual tree losing a branch, I'm not too concerned. what I see when I look at the pics provided are frost damage and insect feeding corresponding to certain stages of development in the spring. You beginning to get an idea of how frustrating this can be? How vigorous is extension in your area? can you send a couple plant samples in and get some kind of idea? beyond that, you need less speculation and more lab results. it may cost a couple hundred for the eval...but if you want answers you can trust, you might just have to do it.