Actively selling horse farms in the Ocala, Marion County area, I receive daily “wish lists” from prospective buyers.   The number one wish for most buyers is – you guessed it – granddaddy oak trees.

Well, a very wise man once told me when I first moved to Ocala, 17 years ago, that it was better to plant your own trees and put them where you want them instead of building around existing trees.

Try telling a very insistent purchaser this and it doesn’t normally settle very well, so I decided to do a little research on my own about the good old grand daddy oak trees that we see dotting the hillsides of Ocala, Florida, the Horse Capital of the World.

Oaks are slow growing and can take as long as two to three decades before they begin to provide significant shade.  There are nineteen oaks native to Florida and over 300 species of oaks worldwide.

The majestic, moss-draped live oaks reach heights of 40 to 50 feet with trunk diameters of 3 to 4 feet.  Their low, massive braches provided naturally formed, angled wood valuable in building the wooden ships of the 1800′s.  It was for this reason that one of America’s first forest reserves was established in the panhandle of Florida.  Live oaks are common on sandy soils throughout the state.  Unlike most other oaks, the live oaks retain their leaves until after the following year’s leaves have appeared.  This results in an”evergreen” tree.

The water oak grows and reproduces quickly and is often the most abundant species.  However, the tree is relatively short-lived compared to other oaks and may only live only 60 to 80 years.  They do grow to 50 to 80 feet and are normally found growing in the moist or wetter soils.

In general, in good soil, such as the rich limestone soil found in areas of Marion County and Ocala, Florida, oaks grow relatively quickly and provide landscape and shade values within five to ten years.

I guess the bad news is that there is no species known as a “grand-daddy oak”- this is just a nickname for the biggest, oldest oak tree you can find.  Generally speaking, they would most commonly be a member of the white oak family and could possibly be 300 to 500 years old.  Often in the Ocala area, you see these oaks in a long “row.”  This is because the oaks were used to protect the crops from the winds and were planted as “wind rows.”

Just remember when you are looking at those majestic grand daddy oaks, their days might unfortunately be numbered.  Sad thought, I know, but it is even sadder on the pocket book when one comes down.