State plant rules: the quarantines and bans that name a tree or shrub we grow

Some states bar a plant at the border, or let it in only with a certificate, a permit or a treatment. The tables below list every such rule we have found that names one of our trees or shrubs, state by state, and then the plants each rule names, A to Z. Checkout applies the rules to the state an order ships to, and the shipping page says how.

How to read the table

The rules are read from the National Plant Board’s state summaries for out-of-state shippers, which Blue Whale Trees checked in October 2026, and matched to the catalog by genus or species. A summary is a state’s own short version of its rules, so each line is a reading, not legal advice, and the state’s plant inspector has the last word.

Each state has its own table. The forms column says what a rule covers: live plants, seed, acorns or nuts. The column after it gives the states or areas the rule applies to shipments from, in the summary’s words, and the count after a rule’s name is how many of our plants it names.

The second table turns the first around and lists each plant with the rules that name it. A name opens the plant’s page.

The rules, state by state

The tables hold the sixty rules in twenty-eight states, as the summaries give them, one table a state.

See Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Arizona

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Kansas

Louisiana

Maine

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Montana

New Hampshire

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

Oregon

Rhode Island

South Dakota

Vermont

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

The plants a rule names, A to Z

146 of the 414 trees and shrubs we grow are named by at least one rule.

Jump to a letter: A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P R S T V W

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

V

W

The table as a file

Download the table as CSV or JSON: 490 rows, one for one plant a state’s rule names, so a plant three states’ rules name has three rows, with the columns below. The figures are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence: use them with a credit to bluewhaletrees.com and a link to this page. Updated 2026-10-22.

What each column means

• state: the two-letter code of the state whose rule it is
• rule: the rule’s name or number, as the state’s summary gives it
• effect: what the rule does to the plants it names, as we read the summary: a ban, a certificate, a permit or a treatment
• forms: what the rule covers, separated by semicolons: plants (a sapling or any live plant), seed, acorns or nuts
• from: the states or areas the rule applies to shipments from, in the summary’s words; all states where it names none
• slug: the plant page’s address, https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants//
• name: the common name the page uses
• botanical: the botanical name

How the table is made

The rules are read from the National Plant Board’s state summaries for out-of-state shippers and matched to the catalog by genus or species. A summary is a state’s own short version of its rules, so each line is a reading, not legal advice, and the state’s plant inspector has the last word. The files are written from the records and checked at every release.

Cite this page

Copy a link or a reference. A press on a box copies it.

<a href="https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/state-rules/">State plant rules: the quarantines and bans that name a tree or shrub we grow</a>, Blue Whale Trees, updated October 22, 2026.

Blue Whale Trees. (2026, October 22). State plant rules: the quarantines and bans that name a tree or shrub we grow. https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/state-rules/

Common questions

Which states have rules on the most of our plants?

Oregon names 84 of our plants, California 72 and Florida 55, most of them oaks under oak wilt rules. The other states name a few plants each, often one genus.

Do the oak rules cover acorns?

No: the four rules that name an oak, in California, Florida, Louisiana and Oregon, cover live plants and exempt seed. Acorns travel under none of them.

What does checkout do with these rules?

It refuses a plant to a state whose rules, as we have read them, bar it for our shipments, and says so as soon as the state is chosen. The shipping page gives the month the rules were last checked.

Is this legal advice?

No: each line is our reading of a state’s own summary of its rules, and a summary is not the rule. Check a line with the state’s plant inspector before relying on it.

Why list a rule that applies only to some shipments?

A rule applies to shipments from the states or areas its own column names, and some name only a few. The table keeps every rule that names one of our plants, so a reader in that state sees it whatever the origin.