Shumard Oak should be a good choice for an oak. The wilt is reported to spread by root and insect infestation. Shumards don't seem to be as affected by it as Live Oaks. Another good oak choice would be a Bur Oak. Better Wilt and drought resistance than Shumard or Live Oak. However they do not have the pretty fall red color that the Shumards have. Just a note on Cedar Elms : Their name comes from the fact that they are frequently found growing with Ashe Juniper (cedar). DED has had little affect on the elm tree population in Texas. Cedar Elms are very dependable/ adaptable trees and will last for 70-100 yrs or so. Disease and drought resistant, they are also one of the few trees down here to reliable produce a muted fall color. They are an excellent choice for landscaping down here.

"Can one stain 'New' Red Oak to match 'Old' Red Oak?" This is tuff to do. When we do a repair in an old Vancouver Home I often use some Shellac first and then top coat with Polyurethane. The shellac gives me the aged look or yellowing and the two seam to work well together. Some times we tint the top coat a little. Judgement calls since sunlight and time will yellow the top coat so making it look right now might make it look wrong in a year.....

Checking back in! Over the course of the months, the condition of both trees continued to decline: every time new leaves were put out, they all started to brown at the edges. (We planted another oak at the same time in the front yard, and that tree is 100% fine.) We made the decision to take them down, sadly. DH took the left one down to almost soil level about a month ago. I immediately 'treated' the bark/outer ring portion with Roundup. On a different day, he took the right tree down to about 3'. No Roundup applied to that one yet. How best to remove as much of the left stump as possible, so the grass can grow in? And if it wasn't a good idea to take the stump that low, we still have the opportunity to take a different approach with tree #2 (right). Thanks for any advice.

Embothrium, Smivies, and ken_adrian Adrian Thank you for your responses! "the original trunk having been cut off, replaced by a new one." - I don't understand. How can you replace original trunk by new one? "species oak are grown from acorns collected from large isolated groups of that type of tree ... no one would go to the expense and labor or grafting them ..." - totally agree it is *right* way for genetic liveness; grow from seeds (acorns). Disagree completely that it is easy way! Are you sure that you will get Red Oak from acorn? Plus, City of Toronto prefers, for example, non-fruiting maple varieties, and etc.; no way to have it from seeds and to know in advance what it will be. "from acorns collected from large isolated groups of that type of tree" - totally agree, you need big isolated area with Red Oaks only, pollinating each other. It is not easy to provide warranty that seedling will be truly Red Oak, but nice to have unique selection in your front-yard, "weeping oak" :) mine seems loving branching from the bottom, I'll try to keep bottom part at least Yes, it came from third-party, subcontractor of City of Toronto, which may (or may not) import cuttings from another wholesaler (from another country) and we all know Phytosanitary certificate cannot prove that cuttings were made by disinfected tools and etc. Anyway, this disease looks exactly like "Oak Wilt" (although I am just guessing... except fruiting smell) but I could not find any resource describing disease on young whips. All description on Internet are for old trees; including "fruiting smell". If it is not this... then what it is? No-name fungus no-one cares of? I googled, I couldn't find anything; winter damage maybe, but I have cracks from top to bottom and in all sides. Waiting for an Arborist from City of Toronto to check, maybe they will cut it and send to lab for analysis (which will take few weeks)