Your existing Live oaks may look bad, but may come back in spring. I have hybrid Q. Virginiana in Pa zone 6. They breezed through last winter, and I am hoping like hell they survive this winter. I think the buds will put out nice leaves in spring. The buds look undamaged, although the leaves are tan, the leaves are still holding, so I have faith in the buds to releaf in spring. I have a Durand oak that kept it's leaves last winter. This winter I haven't checked it, the ground hasn't been dry enough for me to walk over the hill where the Durand is. My Q. Fusiformis is less hardy than my hybrid Q. Virginiana "late drop". The plant sources surely vary though.

'Dorky' and 'love' go together very nicely. It's all good.

That's what I thought, thanks for the confirmation. I'll mention the mis-labeled tree to the staff at the botanical gardens and see if they can get a new plaque made and mounted (hopefully next to the tree rather than on it). krazyaroider - good to know you were able to get a seedling to survive that bad winter. I haven't been to see that mimosa in a year or two. I started some seedlings back around the time you and I swapped plants. They kept getting top killed in bad winters like you described and eventually succumbed. That tree on Union Rd is really good looking, and pretty hardy for having survived the past couple winters with minimal damage. I too wonder if it isn't the 'E.H. Wilson' cultivar. I remember seeing a couple more in the city of Buffalo on garden walk this past summer, but cannot remember where. They had a lot of tip die-back from the past two winters but were surviving.

loris, pines can populate nutrient-poor areas because they can get by on so few nutrients. That doesn't mean they can't grow in good areas, just those areas they will be in much more competition. And you are correct that such areas, for some reason, harbor very diverse animals (including insects) and other-type plants. The virgin pine forests of the southeast US in poor, sandy soils harbored a large percentage of diversity as tropical rain-forests. Actually much more diversity than, say, a California redwood forest, where the forest-floor is practically shut-off from sunlight.