Oak trees in garden

Hi guys, please allow me to introduce myself by way of this post.

My name is Michiel and I live in South Africa. We recently bought a house and I'm in the process of clearing out all unwanted plants and trees so that I can plant from scratch.

I've had a small oak tree for about 5-6 years in a smallish pot (with the intention of making it bonzai). Now that we've moved into our new house I'm thinking of planting the tree out instead.

Although I realize that the tree might take up to a 100 years to grow I'm wondering if its a good idea to plant the tree in my garden.

The garden has a waterline (bore hole) which runs through the middle of the yard (about 1 foot deep) and I was thinking of planting the tree closer to the wall on a little hill about 4-5 yards away.

Is there any danger of the tree "going after" and eventually destroying the water pipe (which is metal)?

Also, how far away from the wall should I plant it? I don't want the tree to disturb the wall, nor do I want the nabours to eventually trim the tree due to falling leaves / acorns.

Btw. Oak trees grow well here where we live.

I was also thinking of planting a few birch trees in a little thicket of sorts.

Any ideas would be apreciated.

I don't know about oaks and water lines or what their roots will do to walls, but if you want it to grow so the branches won't ever hang over the neighbor's yard, look up your species of oak and find out what it's width will be at maturity, then divide by 2 and that's how far from the wall it should be. The problem you're going to run into is that a lot of oaks have pretty wide spread branches when they're mature, so in order to plant it where it'll never overhang into the neighbor's yard, you'll end up having to plant it right on top of the water line, and even then you might still end up with overhanging branches after a number of years.

If your water conduit is metal and not breached (no leaking) there is no reason to think the roots will 'go after' it. Normally they would trend toward water - but your water is contained. However, you are thinking along the right lines about being concerned about the roots growth/spreading (just normally growing) might disrupt your pipe or solid ground surfaces like walkways etc. My thought is that you should find a nursery in your area that also provides landscape services and ask the folks there. They will probably be able to identify your type of oak and tell you about its habits and give you general information. Also, although these services are expensive to contract out - you can generally get a plan for your property and have your questions answered etc. for a very very reasonable hourly fee. I have found it better to spend the money for a couple of hours of expert advice and maybe a design plan - then go it alone and make costly mistakes with potential loss or misplacement of expensive plants/trees.

FYI - I planted a thicket of birch too (river birch - peeling bark not sure if you have those) the trees were only 5-6 feet high and quite skinny.. soon (within 4 years) they were very very big trees and had wide canopies. Plan your thicket carefully, it may become very crowded very quickly. Good Luck.

Thanx for the advice guys. The tree has a lot of sentimental value to me. There are oaks in our town which are at least 150 years old and the one street is actually a heritage site because of its trees. I'll go an measure the old ones to see how big they can get. They're all European Oaks.

Missingrosie, I like the idea of having a little birch thicket. I'll have to go visit our nursery to see what they have. There are a few silver birch trees on campus so I might be able to get those. I want to plant them at random distances to make it look natural. I wonder what kind of "underbrush" I can plant that would go with the trees. I think I'll make a little forest in the one corner of my garden. Should I mix in any other trees like maples?

I have so many huge stones that some I'll have to leave as they lie. Maybe I can encourage some moss growth.

Ok, thank you once more.

Michiel

Hi Michiel, you have moved to a land that has such a diversity of plants, trees and shrubs, I would be more inclined to go to your botanical gardens, librery. book store and visit local parks to take advantage of all the stuff that grows in your area, what is planted with what and how it enhances what colour or texture it grows beside, you said you want to rip everything out from the garden and start again, I would do the opposite, I would want to retain and cut back some of the mature stuff and use it as a backdrop if it were posible, you will prob need shaded areas under the mature stuff till your own new plants get going for a few years, also, maybe just removeing a few trees at a time might give you the ideas to flow as to what you could then grow in between or under, your tiny little oak sounds great to go in the new garden, but maybe it will need the protection or more mature stuff to give it the protection it will require from animal, sun and work in progress, but the info from the others is very relevant, all trees grow roots as wide as the final width of the canopy above it and are best not planted close to any man made constuctions, especially waterways that will be detremental to your own survival if breached by roots many years down the line, your thicket also sounds good, but again, as it matures, be prepared to have to chop a few trees down to allow for more space as they mature, thats how thickets are established, they are always over planted as the trees need the support from each other as young trees/saplings, then thin out to get the effect you require, left to nature and it will sort itself out by the weaker ones becomming dead of overgrown with the canopy from the stronger ones getting more light or water fron there natural growing habbit. so before you chop everything down that is standing, get a picture taken, overlay some tracing paper and pencil draw what you like to remove and replace with what as your ideas flow, then you can do a bit at a time and not make costly mistakes. hope all this helps you to get started and maybe save some things deserving of a place in your new garden. good luck. WeeNel.