I just wanted to post that I was out at the National Arboretum a few weeks ago. The large Q. acutas looked like they sustained some damage from teh past winter. Some twig and a few branches died back. Sad to see. But they will certainly survive. The Q. salicina looked like it had NO damage at all surprisingly. I have never seen acorns on them. Interestingly the Q. phillyreoides had some acorns. No apparent dieback. They all looked rather shrubby to me and not large single trunked trees. L. henyri and Q. myrsinifolias looked just fine. Q. glauca specimens at the Arboretum have all had a rough go of it over the years. Numerous diebacks. Pretty pathetic. They should really not be grown up here. But maybe they got some northern provenance stock that they wanted to try. I didn't see where they were from. Unrelated, but all the hollies looked great. Even Ilex latifolia. The Ilex latifolia in my yard looks great as well. No apparent winter damage. A small amount of leaf spot but overall I was very pleased. This post was edited by dave_in_nova on Fri, Oct 17, 14 at 10:33

that is a giant transplant ... the tree was stressed going into what IT hoped was a normal zone appropriate winter ... but i suspect ... up here in MI.. that TX has not had a normal zone appropriate winter.. is that right, where you are ... check weather underground .. and see how the recent temps compare to what is favorable to a live oak ... so.. stressed from transplant.. stressed from winter.. i would guess .. ITS STRESSED... lol .. and probably sunscald if the damage is on the SW side of the tree ... if there is a warranty .. discuss its condition with the seller ... otherwise.. just keep it PROPERLY WATERED.. and see how it reacts to the damage.. an otherwise healthy tree.. can take a lot of damage.. and continue.. with the only real impact being whether it will drive you insane ... if replacement is decided... go with a smaller size ... it will be easier to plant.. re-establish faster.. and sometimes.. a warrantor will agree to replace if his cost is lower ... again.. i suspect that live oak zone requirements do NOT include single digit temps .. but will defer to anyone who knows.. and though a mature established tree may have weathered it.. the impact may have been much greater on a recent STRESSED transplant ... good luck ken

Hmm...not sure if its a live oak at all. It appears to be a Laurel Oak, which can look like a Virginiana Live Oak from tree to tree. A couple of differences, the Tree in the photo has multiple trunks, Live oaks have a single trunk with spreading branches. In Laurel Oaks, it's not uncommon to have a multi-trunk tree. Both trees stay green year round and then push out new leaves in Spring, both have leathery leaves. However, in the Laurel Oak the leaf may appear a yellowish green or olive green in winter. Kind of an unusual new growth cluster for a live oak, havent seen that before, but I guess not impossible. It's not a Fusiformis, also a single trunk tree, but Fusiformis leaves are different from Virginiana and Definately Laurel Oaks. Fusiformis have the characteristic bump on the leaves from young new growth until almost fully mature, when the leaves smoothen out, and even on most Fusiformis there are some mature leaves that retain the bump. This s not evident on the leaves in the photo. Last, Fusiformis do not have that 5 leaf growth pattern, they are all over the place, but generally grow in two's with every new 2 leaves offset 180 degrees. Laurel Oaks grow somewhat more northerly than Southern Live Oaks, throughout most of Virginia, North Carolina and some maps even showing a tiny portion of extreme SE Pennslyvania. Laurel Oaks are more cold hardy, down to -10. Still even if it's a Laurel Oak, kind of rare for northern Kentucky. I would like to see an acorn from the tree, that would really tell a lot.

I've so enjoyed reading through this tread. My thanks to all who contributed and who take time to plant for the wildlife. Sherry, couldn't help but relate to your story regarding your blackberry canes. I, too, have been fighting the spread of Blackberry canes. I don't know if they were planted by the prior owner or by the neighbor behind me but even with me cutting each cane over and over during the growing season, they had spread so badly they were even beginning to show up all over my small grassy area in the backyard, not to mention the garden beds. Strong canes with terrible thorns that catch at fabric and skin, no matter how carefully the canes are handled. Last year I could see I was losing the battle so I purchased brush killer and carefully sprayed in the spring with the first spring flush of growth, everywhere I could spray without hitting other plants (I used a tall hollow cone to try and contain the spray to each cane). I managed to set back the growth somewhat but couldn't eliminate everything and managed to also kill spots in my lawn. Didn't want to attempt that process again but with this spring's blackberry cane again sprouting all over, I decided to try something new. I cut each growing cane I could reach down to about 6 inches above ground, soaked a cotton ball in full strength brush killer, placed the cotton ball on top of the fresh cut, covered it with a plastic sandwich baggie and used a rubber band to hold all in place. I am proud to say the cane's are dying, even the ones growing up into my neighbors flower beds, where I couldn't place cotton balls. I'm hopeful that with a season of doing this, I can get rid of the underground roots that spread so far and wide. Blackberries are wonderful but for a small city lot, some can be terribly invasive and destructive. Of course, I would not place these covered, soaked cotton balls in an area where pets or small animals might roam. I don't know if wild animals would sense the danger but I doubt if domesticated pets would know to leave them alone. I've wondered if an inverted flower pot placed over each cut cane, with a heavy rock on top, would be enough of a deterrent to keep animals from investigating? My hope is this season will see the end of the blackberry canes on my property! :-) Mary