Toxey
discovered this young live one fall afternoon, and noticed that its
acorns were still green when they should have been littering the
ground. A follow up trip around Christmas time revealed loads of
fresh, mature acorns gracing the sidewalk, so he stopped what he was
doing and collected a bunch. That was three or four years ago, and the
‘late drop’ live continues to shed its mast about a month and a half to
two months later than most other live oaks. The acorns also have a
slightly different look, and a noticeably sweeter taste. Combining
those traits with its tardy acorn drop leaves us confused as to whether
or not this tree is a hybrid with another type of live oak, a
grandchild of a live hybrid that has backcrossed with live, or simply a
Southern live with its own personality. Just to illustrate how
special this tree is, one surprise seedling nicknamed ‘nugget,’ sports
a three inch caliper and acorns at the age of three! We recommend
planting these guys mixed with our other live oaks in hopes of
providing a wide window of acorn drop time from mid-October through
December. Be sure to provide plenty of space for these trees, because
all live oaks prefer to grow wider than tall. Take notice Texas folks!