Northern Red Oak

The leaves turn brilliantly red during the fall and the Northern Red Oak Tree, Quercus rubra, can grow over 100 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 3 feet. The Northern Red Oak Tree is an excellent specimen shade tree and the wood is in high demand for flooring, lumber, and some furniture, and it can grow 70 ft. tall with a diameter of 3 ft. wide. The Northern Red Oak Shade Tree is considered to be the most important tree in American forests, mainly as a lumber tree for flooring, construction, furniture and fuel. When grown as a shade tree, the Northern Red Oak Tree has a straight trunk with branches that grow horizontally at right angles that form a round canopy at the top.

• The bark is distinctive when mature with silvery metallic stripes appearing up and down the trunk. The acorns of the Northern Red Oak Tree are loaded with tannic acid giving a bitter taste, but never the less the acorns are vigorously eaten by deer, squirrels, game birds, and wildlife animals. The tree is well adapted to grow in most soil types, and flourishes near streams. The Northern Red Oak Shade Tree is one of the fastest growing oak trees, and for the homeowner provides a quality, stately, shade tree.