Columnar, fastigiate, slender, narrow, or skinny: By any name, columnar oaks are perfectly suited for today’s landscapes where real estate is at a premium. Big houses on small lots, street-hugging, multi-story townhouses, narrow planting strips between sidewalk and street, and postage stamp yards are among modern urban design practices that challenge tree planters. In addition to being narrow in form, they are well-suited for urban environments. Deep rooted and adaptable to a wide range of growing conditions, our columnar oaks are generally tolerant of compacted soils and a range of pH levels from acid to alkaline.
Several columnar cultivars are tailored to perform in tight spaces or where a strong vertical design element is desired. Those grown as hedges are effective visual screens, while single specimens mature to become landscape exclamation points. Fortunately, there’s a deciduous oak tailor-made to fit most spaces and growing conditions. These top-performing hybrids trees are columnar selections of time-tested urban species. All are genetically destined to grow straight, strong and narrow.
Crimson Spire™ Oak
Quercus x bimundorum ‘Crimschmidt’
Crimson Spire™ Oak is a landscape exclamation point. Dark-green, mildew-resistant foliage and reddish fall color, plus narrow form and perfect uniformity make it an ideal street tree. It may be planted near power lines, streets and buildings without danger of its branches encroaching on rights-of-way. Reaching a height and spread of about 45’ x 15’, it grows into a remarkably handsome formal tree or may be planted in rows to form a dense, sound-absorbing hedge for visual screening or windbreak.
This fast-growing, columnar tree combines the best characteristics of its Old World (Europe) and New World (North America) parents. A hybrid of English English (Quercus robur) and White Oak (Q. alba) parents, it combines the best characteristics of both species to deliver a handsome, adaptable, drought tolerant, disease-resistant shade tree. As its Latin name ‘bimundorum’ indicates, it is the product of ‘two worlds.’
Skinny Genes® Oak
Quercus x bimundorum ‘JFS-KW2QX’ PP 24442
Skinny jeans turn heads in the fashion world. The same can be said of Skinny Genes® Oak, our 2013 introduction that’s turning heads in the plant world as its use and popularity grows. A slim fit designed for cityscapes, this leafy, elegant exclamation point is perfectly suited for planting along narrow streets and other restricted urban planting spaces.
Tightly columnar form and glossy dark green summer foliage make it a showstopper in the fields, on the streets and in the landscape. Clean, mildew resistant foliage stays fresh and green through the heat of summer before turning tawny yellow in autumn and defoliating in late winter. Mature height and spread are approximately 45’ x 10’. Hardy through USDA Zone 4, it was selected from second generation seedlings of a sister of the adaptable, time-tested and widely planted Crimson Spire™ Oak.
Streetspire® Oak
Quercus robur x alba ‘JFS-KW1QX’
This hybrid of our North American native White Oak and Columnar English Oak stands tall and slender in the narrowest of streetscapes. It offers many of the same advantages as the highly-regarded Crimson Spire™ Oak including dark green, mildew resistant leaves that weather the heat of summer with style. Foliage turns to a warm, rusty orange red in autumn before falling cleanly to the ground. Bare branches of winter are stiffly upright and storm resistant thanks to wide crotch angles and short upsweeping branches. Zone 4 hardiness and a mature height and spread of 45’ x 14’ assure a slender, cold hardy and winter-tough tree for urban landscapes.
Originating from a group of young, upright, narrow growing hybrid oaks discovered in our seedbeds, it was one of seven trees set aside for observation (by plantsman and author Keith Warren) in 1991. Hybrid Oak #7 produced acorns in 1995, which were planted in 1999. Among them was a standout seedling that was test propagated and observed for another decade and introduced in 2013. Twenty-two years in the making, it’s proving to be an exceptional tree!
Regal Prince® Oak
Quercus robur x bicolor ‘Long’
This adaptable hybrid of Swamp White Oak and English Oak combines the best of European and North American oak species. Leaves are bright green and glossy, mildew resistant and clean throughout the summer months. Fast-growing and adaptable, the cultivar is notable for developing excellent, tightly columnar form as it reaches 45’ tall x 18’ wide at maturity.
Kindred Spirit® Oak
Quercus robur x bicoor ‘Nadler’ PP 17604
Among the tightest of columnar trees, its growth habit, mildew and drought resistance, and tolerance of urban soils make this hybrid of English and Swamp White oak a great fit for urban landscapes. A mature height and spread of about 30’ x 6’’ make it an ideal candidate for the narrowest of city streets. A sister seedling of Regal Prince®, the foliage is less glossy but maintains its rich dark green color through the summer months. Fall color is yellow to tawny yellow-brown.
Gardeners! Please note that our nursery is strictly wholesale. To purchase these and other trees grown by our nursery, please use our Retailer Locator to find sources of JFS trees near you.
