~ October 1, 2025

At Spring Grove Nursery Oaks are one of our all-time favorite trees! In the nursery world, October takes on a new meaning – we all like to call it Oak-tober! This month, we celebrate the mighty Oak, a tree that has shaped Illinois’ landscapes, sustained countless species, and stood as a living symbol of strength and resilience.

On our farm we grow over 15 different cultivars and straight species of Quercus, with some of the most popular being Swamp White Oak, Bur Oak, and the new columnar Oak varieties like Regal Prince and Kindred Spirit. We grow and harvest field-dug balled and burlapped Oaks, and we also carry a curated line of container Oaks from our trusted liner supplier nurseries. Two of the farms we work with out in Oregon, Robinson Nursery and Kuenzi Nursery, have perfected the growing of young oaks. Their root structure and branching in the early years sets the trees up for success to grow on our farm, where we can then tend to, strengthen, and prune them until they are ready for their forever home out in the landscape. We’ve shared about Robinson and Kuenzi Nursery before, and you can read more about their amazing operations on our blog!

It’s an interesting mix of customers who are buying and planting oaks. Municipalities and landowners make up the majority of these sales, while homeowners who plant them are typically more tuned into the ecological benefits Oaks provide and often have more natural yards. Sometimes we hear comments that people don’t want acorns dropping in their yards, but there are cultivars of Oaks such as Urban Pinnacle that are bred to have smaller acorns. However, we also know that acorns are important for local wildlife, so we like to use that as an opportunity for some tree education! When we work with municipalities we work closely with foresters and public works teams to assess their existing tree canopy in their community. If there is flexibility on their species list, we always make sure to include Oaks in the mix. In recent years we have been working with more landowners on longer-term projects to reforest their properties, or implementing agroforestry practices such as silvopasture on their land. Livestock like sheep and pigs forage for acorns, and the dense leaves turn into organic matter once they fall, making the ground more fertile for grazing. Whether the customer is a homeowner, a municipal forester, or a landowner Oaks are always on our shortlist to recommend for planting!

Oaks are a keystone species in our ecosystem providing habitat and food, dense shade, and the many other benefits of trees like carbon sequestration and better air quality, absorbing water runoff, mitigating erosion, and improving soil health. We know from research that Oaks are in decline in the Midwest, and there are many environmental factors at play. Illinois used to be prairies and Oak savannas, but those have severely declined or have been all but erased from the landscape. So, we always try to do our part to share how much we love Oaks and their importance to our communities! 

Planting Oaks back into our landscape is an act of hope; hope for the future, hope for the betterment of our environment, and hope that these majestic trees will long outlive us and grow for generations to come! 

~ Maggie Thomas Harper