Trees coming into leaf first?

[the cobb]

I am rather keen on trees - a bit too keen according to my fiancee! - and have planted about 10 different species since moving into our new house. They are a mixture of native and non-native species and chosen for their different qualities. Whilst wandering through the garden this morning, I noticed how some species already have large amounts of leaves whilst some are still at the bud stage. Does anyone which trees generally come into leaf first and last? In my garden, the katsura, persia parrotica and hawthorn (paul's scarlet?) already have plenty of leaf covering whilst the beech, oak, sorbus (joseph rock) and silver birch are all still firmly rooted in the bud stage.

[AshLee]

I can't answer your question, but I'm always amazed to see how dead the young oak trees seem at this time of year. They'd be one of the last, I reckon.

[the cobb]

I'll have to look to see if those trees that are latest into leaf - like the oak you mention - hold onto them longest. My neighbour has a walnut tree which keeps leaf longer than other tree around my area, so I'll make a note to see if it the last to bloom.

[thebeard]

they do tend to come into leaf at differing times according to species. if you have a look around in the countryside at the moment, most foliage is present on hawthorn and maple species, whereas a lot of others aren't in leaf yet.
there are plenty in flower right now, blackthorn is particularly pretty right now, along with beech and alder in flower at this time (catkins), and the flowers of ash are quite odd to look at but very cool!
a lot of the native broadleaves, such as oak, beech and ash will not come into leaf for a few weeks i don't think. i always rememeber ash being very late, and my little oak tree (~40cm high, 6 years old) in my garden is yet to come into leaf, in fact its buds are only just forming, whilst the wee sycamore next to it has almost come into full leaf now.

[Hobjob]

According to Rackham, the doyen of ancient woodland, times of leaf burst can also vary markedly according to the origin the specimen from which the trees have been grown.

Thus a planted tree whose vegetative parent came from Devon, will continue to flower early even if moved to Durham. I think he gave it some clever name, but it escapes me.

[animartco]

The first is elder, then most other.s Almost last the ash or the oak (depending on whether its going to be a good summer)- then beech, and last the acacia types. Always some local variation.

[metalfish]

I've read somewhere (can't remember where) that the reason for some species coming into leaf is caused by temperature and others it is daylight hours
This is where the saying 'oak before ash in for a splash, ash before oak in for a soak' comes from because ash is affected by temperature and oak by daylight hours (or could it be because they rhyme??)

[alinicoll]

I was once told (so it must be true) that trees tend to come out by size, so the smallest species leaf first followed by the larger ones. This seems to make a certain sense to me as in a woodlands smaller species would need the early light more. In my casual observation, this does tend to be true, with some exceptions eg Horse Chestnut. Quite what physical factors are significant i don`t know. It is however interesting that Oak does come out before Ash sometimes but not always. Certainly last year the Ash was very late.

[Deal Done]

The Ash is often the last out and the first to go shedding its leaves earlier than alot of others.

[The Woodman]

We've had a very dry spring in south Cumbria and as far as I can tell, this hasn't affected timings of leaf and blossom. What I can say though is that leaf size is much smaller - two trees in my garden have much smaller leaves, almost half normal size - the crab apple and sorbus.

Ash and Oak buds are just opening and pretty much equal.