Knowledgebase
Live Oaks in Maryland #859540
Asked February 20, 2024, 9:37 PM EST
Prince George's County Maryland
Expert Response
Hi,
Southern Live Oak is at its northern range in Maryland and there aren't many documented in our state, but it has been mentioned recently by Casey Trees as a good climate resilient tree. They tend to plant more in the DC metro area with a heat island from the urban environment to account for, so if you are on the northern end of PG county it may be a little too cold for Live Oak.
We would recommend testing it as its a nice Oak tree but maybe not plant more than 1 to be cautious. There are many native Oak trees that you could plant with it. You can see a list of Oak species on Maryland Biodiversity Project with Quercus accutissima Sawtooth Oak being the non-native and invasive species. If you are looking for some somewhat uncommonly planted Oaks for home owners, you could search for Black Oak, Swamp White Oak, Chinkapin Oak, or Burr Oak and those species should still be relatively easy to find at nurseries or garden centers.
Below is a map (https://bonap.net/) showing its range in the the US. The dark green is present in the state and native. light green is present and not rare and yellow is present and rare. You can see a tiny bit of yellow in a southern tip of Maryland. If you decide to plant a Live Oak, we would recommend finding a growing source from the most northern range possible so it is tolerant of our climate (try not to get one grown from Georgia or South Carolina that was shipped up here).
If you weren't aware you can look into the Maryland Plants Trees coupon for planting native trees.
Let us know if you have further questions.
Emily