Quercus Red Flush Group

Trees of the Quercus Red Flush Group produce deep burgundy-red growth in spring. Later flushes are a lighter red, as here, and their autumn colour is also good. Image John Grimshaw.

A vigorous specimen of Quercus Red Flush Group in late summer (Bluebell Arboretum and Nursery, Derbyshire, UK. September 2022). Image John Grimshaw.

Quercus Red Flush Group (Cherry Tree Arboretum, Shropshire, UK. October 2022). Image John Grimshaw.

'Betterred'

From Bold Spring Nursery, Georgia, USA. Selected as a seedling in Oconee County, Georgia in May 2007 for its purple-red new growth, maturing to dark green, and red summer flushes. Leaves turn yellowish-bronze to gold before falling cleanly in autumn. Reaches 15 m tall by 15 m wide (Barbour 2012; Bold Spring Nursery 2025; Oak Names Database 2025).

Quercus 'Betterred' in young growth in April 2016. Image Bold Spring Nursery.

Second growth flushing red on Quercus 'Betterred' in June 2011. Image Bold Spring Nursery.

'Corley's Firecracker'

Compact, broadly conical habit. Young foliage bright red in spring and in later flushes. Discovered by Douglas Corley in spring 2007 in a commercial planting of Quercus texana (as Q. nuttallii) at a nursery in Monticello, Florida, USA. It is said to make a smaller tree than typical Q. texana (Corley 2015).

Brilliant young foliage on Quercus 'Corley's Firecracker' in April 2020. Image Bok Tower Gardens.

'MonPowe'

Distributed by Monrovia Nursery, this selection has outstanding maroon to chocolate-coloured leaves and stems, remaining well into summer before turning deep green and turning red in autumn (Monrovia 2025).

'New Madrid'

A selection with a conical habit and drooping lower branches. Young foliage emerging wine-purple. Originally regarded as a form of Quercus texana, it has now been shown to be a hybrid with Q. palustris. Selected by Guy Sternberg at Starhill Forest Arboretum, Illinois, from seedlings raised in 1999 from a planted tree of Q. texana in New Madrid County, southern Missouri and growing close to Q. palustris (i.e. Q. palustris male × Q. texana female). All the seedlings from this tree gave coloured young foliage (Russell 2012; Russell 2021).

The name ‘New Madrid’ should only be applied to plants vegetatively propagated from the original tree at Starhill Forest Arboretum. Those raised from seed from either this clone, the original tree or the parent Quercus texana in southern Missouri or propagated from these seedlings, and that show coloured young foliage, should be referred to as Q. Red Flush Group (Russell, Jablonski & Coombes 2021). Seed has certainly been distributed as ‘New Madrid’ and the resulting plants may be difficult to distinguish from the original, at least when young.

It should be noted that ‘Madrid’ in this case is not pronounced like the capital of Spain, but rather as the name of the county and city in Missouri is pronounced, with the stress on the first syllable: MAD-drid (MacEwen & Cameron 2024). Settled in the late 18th century, the city was renamed New Madrid around 1780 by its founder, George Morgan, to honour the Spanish ambassador who had promised him a grant of land in what was then Spanish Louisiana (New Madrid Missouri 2025).

The city’s other claim to fame is as the epicentre of the New Madrid Earthquakes, the most powerful earthquakes to hit the contiguous United States east of the Rocky Mountains in recorded history. The series of intense intraplate earthquakes occurred in the winter of 1811–1812 and is estimated to have been of magnitudes between 7 and 8. Among other phenomena, the bed of the Mississippi River was disrupted so that for a few minutes it flowed backwards (Johnston & Schweig 1996; Feldman 2012; Dow 1848).

The original tree of Quercus 'New Madrid' at Starhill Forest Arboretum, Illinois, USA, in August 2013, showing the conical habit and drooping branches reminiscent of Q. palustris. Image Guy Sternberg.

The original tree of Quercus 'New Madrid' at Starhill Forest Arboretum,USA, in December 2013. Image Ryan Russell.

A ripe acorn on the original tree of Quercus 'New Madrid' at Starhill Forest Arboretum, USA, in November 2020. Image Ryan Russell.

Spring foliage of Quercus 'New Madrid' at Starhill Forest Arboretum, USA. Image Guy Sternberg.

May foliage on Quercus 'New Madrid' at Starhill Forest Arboretum, USA. Image Guy Sternberg.

Quercus 'New Madrid' autumn colour at Starhill Forest Arboretum, USA. Image Guy Sternberg.

Young foliage of Quercus 'New Madrid' at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire, UK in June 2023. Image Allen Coombes.

Foliage of Quercus 'New Madrid' at Pavia Nursery, Belgium, in September 2009. Image © Jan De Langhe - Ghent UBG.

Foliage of Quercus 'New Madrid' at Pavia Nursery, Belgium, in September 2009. Image © Jan De Langhe - Ghent UBG.

'QNMTF'

Compact and broadly conical when young, the crown rounded when mature. The burgundy new growth becomes dark green in summer then orange-red in autumn. Selected as a seedling in 2003 by Dwayne C. Moon from a planting at Moon’s Tree farm, Loganville, Walton County, Georgia, USA. It has been successfully propagated from cuttings (Moon 2007).

'QNSTD'

Compact habit with deep red young foliage persisting into summer. Discovered by Michael M. Glenn in 2000 as a seedling in a nursery in Oconee County, Georgia, USA. The Plant Patent mentions that the parentage is uncertain and could involve another species such as Q. shumardii (Glenn 2004).