# Black Ash (Fraxinus nigra)

> Black ash, Fraxinus nigra: a medium tree of 30 to 70 feet for zones 2 to 9, how fast it grows, where it grows wild, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/black-ash/

![Tall, slender black ash trees in full summer leaf, their leafy crowns rising into a pale sky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/black-ash-1000.jpg?v=12ed6567 "Black ash trees in full leaf, growing in the wild. Black ash flowers in May or June, about when its leaves appear, and its samaras ripen from June to September.")
*Photo: Gilles Ayotte, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFraxinus_nigra_15-p.bot-fraxi.nigra-11.jpg))*

Medium tree, 30 to 70 feet, zones 2 to 9; full sun or part shade; average or wet ground.

We do not grow black ash, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Black Ash |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Basket ash, swamp ash, brown ash, hoop ash, water ash |
| Form | Medium tree |
| Height, feet | 30 to 70 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 65 |
| Zones | 2 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Average or wet ground |
| Growth | Slow |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Wildlife value |
| Flowers | May to June |
| Fruit | Samaras, June to October |
| First crop | 10 to 40 years (good crops at 1 to 8 year intervals) |
| Pollination | Separate male and female trees. Some black ash trees carry only male or only female flowers, while others carry both, so plant several if you want seed. |
| Lifespan | Typically lives 150 years, and the oldest dated one reached 319. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Transplanting | The Morton Arboretum's page on black ash marks it as one that transplants well. |
| Planting season | Spring |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Stream banks, floodplain forests, rich moist slopes, swamps and wet flats |
| Native in | 22 states and the District of Columbia |

Black ash is native in 22 states and the District of Columbia: [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=black-ash): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=black-ash): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=black-ash&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=black-ash): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=black-ash): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=black-ash): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=black-ash): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=black-ash:5): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=black-ash): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=black-ash): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=black-ash): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Slippery Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/slippery-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus rubra*): medium tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares stream banks, floodplain forests and rich moist slopes in the wild.
- [River Birch](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/river-birch/index.html.md) (*Betula nigra*): medium tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares stream banks, floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Peachleaf Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/peachleaf-willow/index.html.md) (*Salix amygdaloides*): medium tree, 35 to 60 feet, zones 2 to 8. Shares stream banks, floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Ohio Buckeye](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/ohio-buckeye/index.html.md) (*Aesculus glabra*): medium tree, 20 to 40 feet, zones 3 to 7. Shares stream banks, floodplain forests and rich moist slopes in the wild.
- [Water Locust](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/water-locust/index.html.md) (*Gleditsia aquatica*): medium tree, 40 to 60 feet, zones 6 to 10. Shares stream banks, floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Swamp White Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/swamp-white-oak/index.html.md) (*Quercus bicolor*): medium tree, 50 to 60 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares stream banks, floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Every companion of black ash in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=black-ash)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, NC State Extension, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, Iowa State University Extension, the USDA PLANTS Database, the US Forest Service and Virginia Tech's dendrology site.