Pin Oak tree

Pin Oak Tree-This is one of the best oaks to plant on wet anaerobic soils. It will thrive where most other trees fail. It is particularly useful where tarmac or concrete cover much of the root system and oxygen is depleted. Where space is available it makes an ideal town tree. It thrives best in the mild south of Britain. In its youth it is a light branched upright specimen, sometimes developing pointed spur shoots (pins). Later in life it becomes massive but retains fairly smooth, not rugged, grey-brown bark. It has typical 'American oak' leaves with pointed lobes ending in a short hair like tooth, they are fairly deeply indented which gives a light open feel to the foliage. In the autumn whole trees or sometimes only selected branches colour well to orange-brown and red. Usually a group of individuals planted in one place colour differently to each other, and at slightly different times. This is an ideal landscape tree, it can be used in most situations to advantage. Its natural distribution is an extensive area from New England to southern Ontario and west to Oklahoma and eastern Kansas. It is a floodplain tree that is seldom found on high ground. Its introduction to Britain is not well documented. It was in Europe by 1770 but not recorded in Britain until after 1800.