Southern Live Oak

Quercus virginiana

Hills guide picknative · Hill Countrysold locally

Southern Live Oak is a large tree native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 40–60 ft tall and 50 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and very low to low water, and handles clay soil. Blooms yellow in early spring. Evergreen — it holds its leaves through winter. Good for birds and butterflies.

Will it grow in your yard?

Enter your ZIP. The finder checks Southern Live Oak against your microclimate, then ranks it against your sun, your watering and deer pressure.

From our guide

Village of the Hills

Massive spreading evergreen oak that drops and replaces its leaves over a few weeks each spring. Wider than it is tall at maturity.

Why it works here

The defining shade tree of Central Texas. Enormous wildlife value — acorns plus hundreds of caterpillar species that feed nesting birds.

Watch out

Oak wilt. Never prune February through June, and paint every cut immediately year-round. Needs 50 feet of clearance — this is not a small-lot tree.

The facts

11 sources

Type: Large tree
Sun: Full sun to part shade (3+ hrs)
Water: Very low to low
Height: 40–60 ft
Spread: 50 ft
Bloom: Early Spring · yellow
Foliage: Evergreen
Soil: Takes clay · recorded on clay, loam, poor drainage, sand
Deer: Moderate — deer may browse it, especially new growth. Acorns taken; young foliage browsed
Wildlife: Supports birds and butterflies

Size, sun, water and foliage from the Village of the Hills guide; the rest resolved across sources.

Where it grows

Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Balcones CanyonlandsEdwards Plateau WoodlandNorthern Blackland PrairieSouthern Post Oak SavannaFloodplains and Low TerracesLimestone Cut PlainSan Antonio Prairie

196 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

Sold at local nurseries. Confirmed in stock at a Central Texas grower in these sizes:

3.5–14 inch pots1, 3, 5, 7, 15, 30, 45, 65, 95, 200 gallon

From the growers we read so far — a short list, not the whole trade. Call ahead.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.