Hi Carol,

I am in Sarasota also and have the privilege of having a very old, huge oak in my yard. When we were building this house, we called a respected arborist in to help us protect this tree from construction since it was the reason we bought this property. We also wanted to remove the 8-12 foot round of 'saplings' growing around the trunk to start planting things. He told us that these are not saplings, they are suckers which come up directly from the root system of the tree. The old tree is not as thick in foliage as it was in its youth, and this is one of the ways it tries to get more energy, by producing more foliage in the way of suckers. He strongly advised us not to dig up or spray them in any way, as it would make the tree decline, and perhaps even die. We asked him if it we could trim them (some were 2 feet or more tall). He said that would be fine as long as we kept most of the foliage.

Since then, we have weed-whacked the suckers at an even level of about 8-10 inches once or twice yearly, I would estimate. We have planted ferns at the edges, which has grown into this a little, and there is also cast iron plant and firecracker plant at the edges which have grown into the suckers a little. I think the suckers look nice like a groundcover around the tree. In fact, it looks a lot like the asiatic jasmine around town.

As an aside, our neighbors have many oaks and a very manicured yard. Their gardener sprays the suckers around some of their oaks a couple of times a year. These oaks that get their suckers sprayed have declined noticeably and don't look beautiful to me any more.

An old, huge oak is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Nothing you plant around it will be as valuable or beautiful. My advice would be to just trim at a lower level, plant non-harmful things at the edges, or go for pots under the tree. If you'd like to see it in person, I'd be happy to show you my suckered tree. I think it looks nice. By the way, it's just my opinion, but I think part of the majesty of an old oak is seeing the gorgeous trunk base. For that reason also, consider not planting close to the trunk so that it can be visualized to its fullest! Good luck with your beautiful tree.

Anna

I never heard of this. I did google "live oak suckers" and a lot of info came up but basically supported what Anna said. I learned something today.

i use a weed whacker on mine, a bit shorter, but never would spray anything on 'em....part of the job. kind of like the cypress knees.....i think....:)

Excellent answer annafl.
You said it all.
Sometimes doing very little or nothing is the best thing to do.

Thank you so much, Annafl. I'm pleased to learn about these trees. We have a master gardener, and Florida native next door, he is the one I got my info from.

Our undergrowth is about three feet tall and about twenty plus feet across. It's dense and the wild animals love it. I can cut it back and put a few planters in for color.

We also have a huge epiphyte orchid cactus in the tree that bloomed a couple of weeks ago. It was beautiful. I was out with a camera, but it was hard to get photos in the dark.

I'm in the Northeast right now and will be out West traveling for family reasons. I'll be back in a week or two and would love to see your oak tree and it's undergrowth.

My email is pabrocb@yahoo.com.

Thanks again, Carol B.