As youÂve noticed, almost no trees grow here naturally, and the ones you do see are usually along a creek or other water source. Denver and all of the front range is semi-arid, high-plains desert. Denver is lushÂand virtually everything growing here is irrigated. (Well, "lush" is relative! Florida it ainÂt!) Have you lived out here for a full year yet? Whenever I have company out here from the midwest, theyÂre absolutely amazed by the constant watering. I grew up in Illinois where we almost never watered, and in summer the grass went dormant when it wasnÂt wet enough. Out here, if the grassÂand everything elseÂisnÂt watered, it doesnÂt go dormant-----it dies! Coming from Florida to Colorado, you must be in climate shock!

Oak trees will grow out here, but they will definitely have to be watered regularly. If planted in a lawn, the "normal" lawn watering will probably be enough. ButÂwe also have very alkaline soil out here in most places, and I think oaks donÂt like too alkaline a soil, so they would probably grow more slowly and never acquire the full height that they would "back east."

HereÂs a link to the Colorado State University Extension Service fact sheet on large deciduous trees. Scroll down to Quercus! And hereÂs a cut & paste link to all the Extension Service fact sheets. This is a GREAT place to find information about gardening around hereÂin the dry lands!

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/pubgard.html#tree

Happy learning,
Skybird

Here is a link that might be useful: CSU - Large Deciduous Trees

Live Oaks, which I remember seeing with spanish moss all over them in Georgia many many years ago, are not deciduous like my Red and Burr oak, but are evergreen.

Often is Quercus virginiana, but there's other varieties.
It's way way too cold and dry here for Live Oaks.

Wow! I learned something new today! Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia - Live Oaks

We used to enjoy live oaks in California, too, so I don't know that they need a lot of water (it's a long, dry summer there). But they do need warmer winters. In fact, you see a lot more of them in southern California than in northern. I've never seen one in Utah, and I suspect they can't survive here.

There are plenty of oaks that will survive in Colorado, but do be careful about their soil PH preferences. Some get very chlorotic in our alkaline soils here in the west. Pin oaks don't do well at all, and I think others struggle, too.

I have a white oak, or swamp oak, planted in an area that stays fairly moist all summer. It has stayed alive now for 4 years, but it isn't exactly thriving. It doesn't like the winters very much and the bark is peeling off on the western side from the sun. There are a few specimens in town that are well established, however.

I agree, you won't find many 'live oaks' anywhere in Colorado due to our low temperatures. I have an oak known as 'Quercus hypoleucoides' or Silverleaf Oak that is native to the southwest mountains and it is evergreen. It's still only about five feet high though and growing slowly. It stays looking pretty good after a milder winter, but this year not so hot - lots of leaf 'burn'.

I remember a few years back driving through the Texas Hill Country in March, and I thought the live oaks there even looked pretty rough - lots of brown on those leaves. But maybe they just had a rough winter that year too.

I don't know what kind of oak it was but when hubby and I would go to Steamboat Springs, loved seeing all the oak trees in the mountains below Rabbit Ears Pass.

Of course since oaks won't grow naturally in WY I always love seeing them growing wild, whatever type they are.