Although most folks misidentify laurel oak as water oak, landscapers in the Coastal Plain region of the Southeast have known about the laurel oak’s ease of establishment, tardily deciduous foliage, and tolerance to a wide range of sites for decades.  We like it for its ability to produce loads of semi-late dropping mast on a seemingly yearly basis.

The laurel oaks we collect from don’t begin dropping their smallish, somewhat decay resistant red oak acorns until the month of December, and are utilized by the critters on into the early spring.   When turkeys don’t show up in fields during the early part of spring season, they’re probably still in the woods gleaning the last of the laurel oaks.

When planting, keep in mind, Laurel oaks prefer deep sandy soils along major rivers but will tolerate a wide range of soil types when used as a landscape tree.