Sessile Oak, Large Trees

Quercus petraea: Bareroot Sessile Oak Trees in Standard Sizes

The Sessile Oak, Quercus petraea, is a stout, slow growing native tree with a broad canopy and dark green leaves.

It looks very similar to Common Oak, and is quite hard to tell it apart for most of the year. It has straighter branches, and usually a taller trunk, with a narrower canopy, but this isn't always a sure sign because trees in exposed locations can be shaped by the wind. The surest sign is that its acorns have very short stalks, whereas Common Oak's have stalks about an inch long.
They can reach a height of about 30-40 metres.

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

Delivery season: Oak trees are delivered bareroot during late autumn and winter, approximately November-March inclusive.
Choosing a size: Small trees are cheaper, easier to handle and more forgiving of less than ideal aftercare, so they are 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 is 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).

Features:

• Height: 30m+
• Soil: Well drained to dry
• Native
• Bareroot delivery only: November-March

Growing Sessile Oaks

This hardy tree thrives in any reasonably fertile well-drained soil. It tolerates dry condition well as long as the soil is not too sandy and poor, and it is not recommended for chalk, preferring a pH on the acidic side. It is more adapted to rocky hillsides with better drainage and higher altitude than Common Oak, which is the better choice for clay in lowland areas.
It is shade-tolerant when it is young, and it is often interplanted with fast-growing conifers.

Nothing is 100% proof, but it is one of the trees that is most resistant to honey fungus.

Did You Know?

Quercus is Latin for Oak, and petraea is to do with being rocky, referring to its preference for hills and mountains. It produces top grade timber, and is commonly used for high quality casks and barrels because the wood is water-resistant and gives a good flavour to the beverages stored in it. The acorns are excellent feed for pigs and also attract jays.

Other Common Names: Welsh or Durmast Oak
Botanical Names: Quercus petraea, Q. sessiliflora

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.