Pin Oak Trees

• Common name: Pin Oak
• Latin name: Quercus palustris
• Sold as: Bareroot standards, 6/8cm girth. Bareroot trees 200/250cm tall
• Mature size: More than 12m tall and 8m wide. About 25m in Britain
• Time to full size: More than 50 years
• Autumn colour: Reddish-brown or bright crimson
• Position: Sun or partial shade. Exposed or sheltered
• Soil: Lime-free: acid to neutral clay, loam or sand. Takes winter-wet ground and town soils. Not chalk
• Hardiness: H6, hardy through the British winter
• RHS Award of Garden Merit: Yes (1993)
• Delivered: Bareroot, November to April. Collection from Castle Cary also available

Pin Oak is a big, elegant American Oak with a dense, slightly weeping crown and deeply cut leaves that turn reddish-brown or bright crimson in autumn. It needs a lime-free soil, takes ground that lies wet in winter, and is the only Oak we sell that holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Pin Oak Trees

The Pin Oak tree, Quercus palustris, is a big, elegant tree with a relatively narrow canopy and thinner branches than our native oaks. The branches droop at the tips and sway in a light breeze. The autumn leaves are a rich, ruddy orange-russet colour, with a hint of hot bronze. On some years, they remain on the branches into early winter.
It can reach a height of about 25 metres.

Standard trees are the largest size that we deliver; you can also buy younger Pin Oak saplings.
Browse our other Oak tree varieties, or all of our trees.

Delivery season: Oak trees are delivered bareroot from late autumn to early spring, November to April.
Choosing a size: Small trees are cheaper, easier to handle and more forgiving of less than ideal aftercare, so they're best for a big planting project. If instant impact is your priority, or if you are only buying a few plants for use in a place where it's convenient to water them well in their first year, then you may as well use bigger ones. All our bareroot trees are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).

Growing Pin Oaks

It needs a lime-free soil, and thrives in full sun on damp, oxygen starved soils found beside rivers and lakes with heavy clay banks. This also makes it a good inner city tree, where the soil is compacted and covered in concrete and tarmac. However, it only tolerates flooding and waterlogging in winter. During the growing season, regular flooding year after year will cause it to decline.

They're allelopathic, which means that most other plants can't grow underneath them.

History & Trivia

Also known as Spanish swamp oak, this North American tree was introduced to Britain around 1800. There are records of Pin Oaks in the USA that were a stonking 60+ metres tall; in the British climate they aren't as vigorous, and the biggest one we know of was 30.5 metres in 1984, at Rough Row in Dorking.
They have short lives for an Oak, up to about 200 years old. The timber is too knotty to have many uses apart from decorative items, but it is good firewood.

Standard trees are measured by their girth in centimetres 1 metre above ground level: their trunk's waist measurement. Unlike sapling trees and hedge plants, standards aren't measured by their height, which will vary quite a bit both between and within species.
So, a 6/8cm standard tree has a trunk with a circumference of 6-8cm and an 8/10 standard has a trunk 8-10cm around. This measurement makes no difference to the tree's final height.
On average, standard trees are 2-3.5 metres tall when they arrive, but we cannot tell you precisely how tall your trees will be before we deliver them.

Planting Companions

Red Oak is the other American Oak: broader where Pin Oak is narrow, and lime-free too. On ground that lies wet in winter, plant Pin Oak with Common Alder or another of our Alder trees. For more American autumn colour, see our Maples. Dust the roots with Rootgrow as you plant.

Why Ashridge?

Ashridge has sold trees since 1949 and is a Which? Best Plant Supplier 2025. Your Pin Oak comes as a bareroot tree, lifted to order while dormant and guaranteed for 12 months. Plant it between November and April, and it will establish readily.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Pin Oak grow on chalk?

No. It requires lime-free soil. Plant it in an acid to neutral clay, loam or sand. On chalk, choose a native Oak instead.

Does it grow in wet ground?

Yes, where the wet comes in winter. It takes winter flooding and heavy, airless clay, which is why it also does well in compacted town soils. Flooding in summer, year after year, will weaken it.

How big does Pin Oak grow?

It grows more than 12 metres tall and more than 8 metres wide, over more than 50 years. In Britain it reaches about 25 metres, with a narrower crown than our native Oaks.

What is the autumn colour like?

Reddish-brown or bright crimson. It is the Oak to plant for autumn leaves, and in some years they hang on into early winter.

Should you buy a standard or a sapling?

A standard gives you a tree with a clear trunk from the first day. For a big planting, our Pin Oak saplings cost far less, and you will find them linked above.

When are the trees delivered?

Bareroot only, from November to April, while the trees are dormant. You can order at any time of year and your tree is lifted and sent once the season opens.