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Down the Garden Path: Our native oaks · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Down the garden path are native oaks. Written by Sue Steyer, University
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  of Illinois Extension. This article is being read by an automated voice
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  brought to you by Everlett. When you think of oak trees, perhaps
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  you recall the proverbs mighty Oaks
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  from little acorns grow, or maybe you think of all those leaves
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  you'll need to rake from those mighty oaks. But oaks have a
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  lot more to offer than proverbs or leaves. Oaks support life. Oaks
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  are keystone species ones that are critical for maintaining the community in
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  which they live even though the are found in small numbers. Oaks
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  provide food and shelter for hundreds of animals, including more than 800
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  species of caterpillars, the
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  most of any trees group. Caterpillars are an important part of the
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  food web, the food, and energy relationships between organisms providing food for
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  other animals, especially our songbirds. Each nest of baby songbirds needs 3,000
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  to 4,000 caterpillars to fledge. Oaks support the most life of all
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  trees in North America, including another native tree such as maples, white
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  pines, or dogwoods. Without oaks there would far fewer birds, not to
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  mention fewer animals that rely on acorns for food, or even the
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  oak leaf litter for shelter or nutrients. Balance of nature You might
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  wonder why you can't substitute another type of tree for an oak.
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  This is because insects that rely on oaks for food have co-evolved
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  with them, influencing each other's development. Oak leaves have a high amount
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  of tannin, a chemical defense, in their leaves that makes them distasteful
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  to many herbivores. Oak leaf eating insects have adaptations that disarm the
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  tannins so they can eat the leaves. But all those oak eating
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  insects attract other predators, such as spiders and dragonflies, that feed on
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  them, creating a food web. This keeps the oak eating insects under
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  control so that oaks aren't killed by them. When we plant a
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  different native tree
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  it too will support a food web, but one that has fewer
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  species than on an oak. When we plant a non native tree,
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  our local insects haven't coevolved with it to overcome that trees chemical
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  defenses, which is why non native trees do not support the life
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  that native One
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  do. Choosing an oak tree There are eight oaks common to the
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  Chicago region. Details for each can be found here. They are large
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  trees ranging from fifty to seventy five feet and require full sun,
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  making them suitable as specimen trees in the landscape. They are all
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  salt tolerant, with varying tolerance of soil compaction and wet sites. One
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  oak tree to consider for smaller landscapes is they dwarf chinquapin oaks
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  Quercus prenoides, which tops out around twenty feet. Although not thought to
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  be native to the Chicago region, it is found growing to the
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  east and west of our area. The dwarf Chinquapan is also closely
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  related to the Chinquapen oak Q Mulenberg, native to our region and
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  will add to your yard's habitat. Considering the benefits they provide, the
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  mighty oaks are truly mighty in many ways. Websites to add. Sue
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  Steyer is a certified Master Gardener and Master Naturalist volunteer with the
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  University of Illinois Extension serving DuPage, Cain, and Kendall counties.