The Northern Red oak is a relatively fast growing oak, with a rounded to broad crown, growing to 50 to 70 feet tall and wide. Leaves are classically "oak-like" and a rich green, turning reddish-brown in the autumn. Its acorns are about an inch long with a saucer-like cap. Bark is deep brown to nearly black, with young bark being very smooth and older bark having interesting fissures and ridges. An attractive, long-lived shade tree.
Grow in full sun and well-drained soil, preferably in a sandy-loam to loamy-clay soil. Prefers acidic to neutral soils, though is tolerant of lower pH soils; also tolerant of drought and pollution. Trees are slow to establish, and so plant the smallest size you can endure (it will establish more quickly than a larger tree), and plant in spring through early autumn to give the tree time to establish.