PlantFiles: Willow Oak
Quercus phellos

A beautiful oak tree that grows fast; what more could you want? I prefer this one over the sawtooth oak. I agree with another person's rating. The leaves are small enough that you can mulch them with the lawn mower. There should be no need to rake them.
I am trying to decide on whether to plant a willow oak or a tulip poplar tree in my back yard.

My favorite of all oaks. Beautiful yellow fall color. I love the leaf-fall but then I'm not crazy about grass. Even though I have more than I want.

Probably the most popular street tree in Tennessee. Common in wet areas and lowlands of the TN valley.

I hate this tree more than any other I have ever grown. I had a mature specimen cut down because I didn't want to spend all my waking hours for a month raking up its annoying leaves. It drops millions of them, and it takes forever to drop them all, and they are extremely hard to rake up. There are plenty of other nice oaks out there; why plant this one? (I do have to say, though, that the wood is gorgeous.)

Drops twigs all the time. A real mess for a yard tree. Yes, it grows fast, provides wonderful shade, and has a lovely shape. Those qualities make it a wonderful tree for the NEIGHBOR'S yard!!

Annapolis Maryland has these planted everywhere, some quite large specimens, at the Treasury Building and a very ancient one in St Annes Cemetary, I guess that one is at least 400 years old, it looks like its top was sheared off at one time cause its not very tall, but its trunk is huge ! They are massive trees when given enough space. Great Shade trees.

Response to RaisedBedBod: Why would you even need to rake the leaves? They are small enough to simply mulch with mower. And what leaves don't like gutters?

This oak is bullet proof in my area; however, the leaves are hard to rake up, love gutters and seem to drop for months. I'd reserve this one for the woods only.

In soils that can provide the nutrition necessary this tree does great in. One of the most spectacular plantings I have seen was alongside I-85 in Spartanburg, SC. In upstate South Carolina it seems to be the best disease resisitant fast growth oak as water oak is suseptible to mistletoe. Here in Illinois the willow oak is an endangered species growing only in a few southern counties right along the Ohio River. If one wants to find a good northern hardy source of seed that can grow into zone 5 around illinois there are three very old specimans growing next to fort massac right next to metropolis, illinois along the ohio river. These trees are humongous having been there even in the original days of the forts existance during the revolutionary war days. This tree can grow in zone 5 but it wont get that huge. If one is looking for an oak with a different leaf shape one must try shingle oak instead as it is less sensitive to soil acidity. I planted one three or four summers ago and it is still pretty much the same size with constantly yellow leaves. Different seeds will provide different soil tolerance than others just as with pin oak. A fully green speciman grows in champaign, Illinois at the u of I arboretum but remains a small tree in size and has displayed an unusual habit in comparison of that generally of the species. I do believe winter die back has kept this tree this size and shape.

Grow very quickly-fastest of all the oaks.

This tree is a source of lumber and pulp.Attracts wildlife that come to feed on the acorns. It has the smallest acorns of any of the oak trees. Leaves turn to yellow and brown in the fall. Makes a good shade tree.