BY RACHEL FOSTER
RED BARN
Love Those Oaks
N AT U R A L G R O C E RY E S T. 1 9 8 2
Native hardwoods have both
cultural and environmental value.
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rally in oak habitat. Alverson recommends
California fescue (“quite ornamental, tall-
growing with graceful seed heads”) and
Roemer’s fescue, another bunch grass with
fine textured evergreen leaves. He also sug-
gests Geranium oreganum, Oregon iris, and
shooting star (Dodecatheon hendersonii), all
of which “look better in cultivation than in
the wild.”
Landscaper Keith Oldham has consider-
able experience with gardening under native
oaks, both on his own eight-acre property and
for clients of Oakleigh Gardens. I asked him
what advice he gives gardeners who are con-
cerned about their oak trees. First, he said,
“Avoid activities that will disturb the root
structure, such as trenching and soil com-
paction. You want to avoid summer watering
near the crown, which can promote root rot,
so don’t plant water guzzling plants like rho-
dodendron and astilbe under your trees. Stick
to plants that tolerate life on the dry side, like
native flowering currant, sword fern, checker
mallow, fawn lily and blue-eyed grass.” Non-
natives that don’t need much water include
sarcococca, daphne and hardy cyclamen, he
said.
An arborist can tell you if the oak trees on
your property are native. Oregon white oaks
have dark, often convex, leathery leaves with
rounded lobes. The leaves of California black
oak are pale, thinner and flatter, with pointed
lobes. You can see the two together at Morse
Ranch on Crest Drive. California black oaks
in Eugene often look sick, but Alverson feels
these big trees are just dying of old age. He
thinks gardeners should consider planting
both species from acorns. Plant lots of them,
he says, and be prepared to outwit the squir-
rels.
ew
Warm Apple Pie • Hot Cocoa • Pumpkin Pie
Leaves of Oregon white oak.
RACHEL FOSTER
Pecan Pie • Crème Brûlée • Caramel Apple Cheesecake
Y O U
T H A N K YO
Bread Pudding • Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut Cake
ublime weather drew a record crowd
to this year’s Mushroom Festival at
Mt. Pisgah Arboretum. I wonder
how many visitors noticed the magnificent
Oregon white oak trees towering over their
heads. Mount Pisgah is one of the best places
to see Quercus Garryana, once the dominant
tree in the Willamette Valley. (The Eugene
area has two native oaks; we lie near the
northern limit for California black oak.)
Before white settlement, an estimated 1.5
million acres of valley land consisted of
prairie with scattered oak trees, forming a
habitat now called oak savanna. The land-
scape was kept open by fire, caused by both
lightning and the food-gathering methods of
the Kalapuya Indians.
Whites brought diseases that devastated
the Kalapuya, and the settlers pressed for fire
suppression. Once burning stopped around
1840, upland prairie and oak groves gave
way to Douglas fir and dense woodland,
while the valley floor was plowed for farm-
ing. Oak savanna is now one of the region’s
most threatened ecosystems. Ed Alverson,
who manages Willow Creek Natural Area in
West Eugene, lives in Santa Clara. He feels
there is cultural as well as ecological value in
preserving our native oak trees. “Native oaks
are really a key feature in the story of this
place,” he says. “As you look round my
neighborhood you can still see big old oak
trees. You can sit under a 200-year-old oak
and imagine a Native American sitting under
that same tree.”
If you have native oaks on your property,
you’ll be doing wildlife a favor if you pre-
serve them. More than 200 species of mam-
mal, bird, reptile and amphibian (as well as
countless insects) use oak habitat for food
and lodging. Local ornithologist Dave
Bontrager stresses the complexity of the sys-
tem, in which parasites such as wasps and
mistletoe play an important role. Parasitic
wasps make the hollow galls called “oak ap-
ples.” When the wasp is done with it the oak
apple provides a home for a new insect.
Mistletoe berries are enjoyed by birds of the
thrush family, including Western bluebirds.
And according to Alverson, there is even a
butterfly whose larva eats mistletoe leaves!
Many species that use oak trees, including
Western gray squirrel and the gregarious
acorn woodpecker, do quite well around peo-
ple. Humans, in turn, do well around oaks.
Unlike Douglas firs, which can make a house
and yard feel gloomy in winter, these oaks
shed their leaves in fall and let in precious
winter sunshine. Even in leaf they cast a be-
nign shade, and it is easy to grow plants under
them. There is a snag, though: You can
shorten the life of native oaks by gardening
beneath them if you use a conventional wa-
tering regime.
One option is to make your oaks an ex-
cuse to do very little gardening. Just remove
any competing conifers that will shade out
the oaks, and mow under the trees each
August to discourage new woody growth. Or
you might choose to enrich the understory by
re-introducing native plants that occur natu-
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B e s t Ba
Sweet Life
755 Monroe St. • 683-5676 • www.sweetlifedesserts.com
Hours: Sun - Wed till 9:00pm • Thur - Sat till 11:00pm
For more information about oak habitat, contact Walama
Restoration Project (484-3939) or the Native Plant
Society of Oregon. Rachel Foster can be reached by
e-mail: rfoster@efn.org
NOVEMBER 13, 2003 27