Here's a close up of the leaves on the tree in winter. I will also be sure to try and take some pics when the new leaves emerge. They are a very showy light green color to envy for sure with a really beautiful leave pattern with round lobes.

update 4-6-18, the oak has started to jump up, and leave out. about 6 in of growth up top, and about 4 in on some branches. yayyyyyyyy ! really like it when the leaves push out, and what a purdy green.

thank you H D

today, 4-18-18, jumped another 6 in and has branched out even more. love this tree, and the leaves are way CoolEo! check out the greeeeeeeen! ;)

update: 6-16-2018, Really pleased on the growth of this tree. It's jumping up rather nicely as you can see the height differences between the earlier pics. It helps being in the US, middle of California, Zone 9. Just wish the wind would go away. It seems every year now we have winds from N-W that blow through May, June and July. Used to be March winds, and mostly only through March. any hoo. .... have a good one peeps.

Amazing growth! What a lovely tree. Keep the thread going :)

thank you, I will Denita.

You've definitely sold me on this species. I've been scoping out my yard for possible locations for one!

Hi Lindsay, before you buy one, make sure your in the right zone for it. don't mean to sell em, just really like oaks. this is one of a few oaks I have and really like. have a great day! here's a few more pics for kicks and whistles.

as of today, 7-15-18.
I can't help but to post another update on this oak tree. the amount of new growth is very impressive. in comparing through my previous updates of pics, one can see this tree is jumping up and starting to really pour it on. I can only imagine once it has spread out its roots, and sized up more, it will become a fairly good size fairly fast. atleast that is what I'm seeing so far from it. cheers!

Any new progress (maybe fall colors) with your tree? I absolutely love how it looks so far.

I would also like to see :) I enjoyed seeing the growth of your little oak!

as of today, 10-14-18, has increased trunk girth, and a little more in filling out of top and in filling in, in the lower sections.

thank you Martha and Norbert. Cheers :)

Marta, I should have known the "auto fill in" in these smart phones would have made your name wrong. apologize for that. ;)

Update, 11-16-18 end of the growing season, above ground anyway. ;) Cya peeps.

Fall colors, yes, that fast. all of a sudden winter showed up, freezes for the last 2 weeks, and bam! Fall colors. Happy Holidays all.

Update 3-11-19, tan colors are all that is left in the leaves. Spring is right around the corner. This is a tree that holds on to its leaves through the winter such as others do. I don't mind it all though, keeps a nice attraction for that area, as I have mentioned earlier. Cheers!

Update 4-4-19; first leaves pushing out. The old leaves mostly fell off from wind and some rain throughout the last parts of winter, although again, the tree does hold on to its leaves. The tree has not jumped out or out yet, but I will try and post that/those event(s). Cheers

4-20-19, It's leaved out, and jumping up and out! yayyyyyyyy! Happy Easter to all

oops, forgot the pic. lmbo!

Update 7-23-19, tree is growing up and out somewhat as shown in the pics. The trunk is definitely girthing up and I’m sure the roots are as well. Cheers

Thank you for the update!

Welcome :)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><md>Update 10-01-19, The tree is doing very well and has filled out some and jumped up even more, about another 1&1/2'. This ocurred within about 3 weeks or so. Fall is setting in, and I gave it a few extra deep waterings. Maybe because the temperature differences at night, and yet some still 90° days, it made it jump up a bit.

pictures didn't upload for same reason, 2nd try.

update 9-19, the tree has put on about another 1&1/2' of vertical growth. it has also filled out more along with more trunk growth. cheers

this Houzz gardenweb section is not posting my posts, I have no idea what is going on going.:(

I hope mine looks just like that.

Thank you Bob, post a pic of it, I would like to see it.

End of the growing season update. really blown away by this tree. once it sheds its leaves, there are a few branches which have grown ahead of the others (lowers), which I will cut back. Other than that, beautiful tree, and an upright grower as it's marketed to be.... so far. ;) Merry CHRISTmas to all!

Hello there, I just recently planted a Scarlet Letter and curious how often you watered your tree after planting. We are in CO. and it is pretty warm temps here.

Hello, goldrush1. I'm thinking the temperatures greatly vary from where I'm at, but I would let the top dirt area dry some what, and then give it a good watering. The norm was around 2-3 times a week when it was summer. I'm located just below central California and we get some really hot temps, 70°nights-100+ days. During the hot temps, I always kept an eye out on the ground around the tree for the first 2 years making sure the ground never completely dried out. Your gonna love the tree!

Hello! Thank you for the quick response. I really appreciate it. When you say give it a good watering, did you drip water for a certain amount of time? My local green house said to water in three corners of the root ball area for 10 minutes each, once a week. 30 minutes seems like a ton of water for that one watering session.

Our temps right now are around 80-90 (except today is very rainy). During the hot day yesterday the leaves were drooping and I am not sure if we over-watered or under-watered. I guess today will tell since it is very soggy outside. :)

Welcome. What your local green house has recommended sounds about right and that's close to what I meant by saying, giving it a good watering. Just try and imagine how much water your giving it, in order to make the root ball get some water, and to make the surrounding area of dirt around the root ball, get water to provide substance of available water for the rootball. If not, the surrounding dirt will actually take water away from the rootball if the surrounding dirt is dry.There are some that say it takes an oak up to 5 years before the roots will get a chance to really stretch out. During this time it's important to make sure not to over water causing issues, and not watering enough causing the tree to stress. If your talking about drooping, and it is because the dirt and rootball are dry, then I would step up the watering frequency, not so much the amount of water if you are watering as you have suggested that you are. I watered by hose for about the first 2 years, and now it is on a drip. However, even though it's on a drip, I still on occasion give it a watering by spraying it with a hose when I see the dirt around it is dry. This of course being it's been in the ground for some time now. Yours being a freshly planted one require watering more often.

If you wouldn't mind, how large of one did you get?

Update 6-19-2020. Tree is really jumping up, filling out, and the trunk is thickening up. For the height however, I would figure the trunk being a little bit more thicker, but we've had some fairly strong winds recently, but so far, has caused no issues. Cheers, and yeeeeeeeeuuuuuuup, I still love the tree!

Thanks, all of this makes sense and I will continue with the schedule we it on. We purchased a 10-12' tree. Pretty tall!

Welcome, and it seems I will have to ask my gardener, what happened to the drip line to the oak, for it is no longer there! Glad I saw this, for the dirt is to dry.

Wow, 10'-12'... Was that in a 15gal, or 24x24? It's has a great start then being so tall already, and you should see some good growth in the next 3 years or so.

Oh no, missing drip line!

The pot is about 17-18" diameter. It is very full but the tip of the tree is kinda wonky. I'm sure it will straighten out in time. Thanks again for your insight.

Yes, sounds like a 15gal. Yes, I was surprised to see that the drip line was gone. welcome. I will definitely water it tonight, once it cools some. :)

Just wanted to say THANK YOU for sharing all of your trees progress. I’m contemplating planting one of these or the ‘crimson spire’ varieties, along with a “firespire” American hornbeam. This helped a lot!

I have a question for you: I’m hoping to plant this variety right along my fence (6’ vinyl), with the goal of pruning all the lower branches to until I meet the fence height (for clearance purposes). Do you think this tree can handle that kind of shaping from the bottom?

Cheers!

This is a photo of the area I’d like to plant. You can see that I’ve removed poorly planned arborvitaes here, as the pathway between our fence and deck is narrow. Hence why I want the newly planted oaks to be trained to start branching above the fence.

Hello, and thank you for the compliments. I do not believe that you would have a problem in keeping the tree trimmed up so that eventually is above the Fence line. However, even though these trees are specialized Trees and staying fairly vertical, they will eventually get big and fill out, for they are oaks. If you know your neighbor and being respectful, and if you know that they would not mind that tree eventually filling in that area through time, I would say go for it and there are beautiful choices of these vertical Trees. Cheers

11-15-2021; Here’s an update on the Quercus scarlet letter oak. Getting tall and the trunk is still staying fairly small compared to its vertical growth size I think. Still like it a lot though. Cheers

This is a very helpful post. I, too too, am trying to decide on Scarlet Letter vs Crimson Spire as my nursery sells both. It seems as if this cultivar os a bit more fastigated. i am very impressed with the vertical growth rate you’ve had. Thanks a ton for the photo updates.

Update 4-13-2022: the quercus Scarlet Letter oak is still growing at a very impressive rate and has caught up to the Quercus Regal Prince as far as girth at the base of the trunks, and is now taller than it. Overall the Regal Prince has more mass in its branch mass girth, the Scarlet Letter oak is catching up to that as well. I like em both and the

y differ greatly, but I have to say again that the Scarlet Letter oak to me, is a fast grower, looks great when it's leaves flush out and they turn great colors in the fall. Again, I have found this tree holds on to it's leaves almost throughout the entire time of the mild winters of California which I like. Gives that area some fullness as the others have dropped theirs... Awesome! Cheers!

2-18-2023; With great regret, I must say this will probably be the last entry Re all of my posts of the joy in my oak trees, for I have sold my property and have moved. I wish all those who have joined me in watching this and the other oak trees I’ve posted about grow up some, and for all to have a joyous life and God Bless to all. DM

Thank you for the updateupdates. Maybe post your new oak at your new residence?

@D McElhaney Sr What does your Scarlet Letter Oak look like today? :-)