# Carolina Ash (Fraxinus caroliniana)

> Carolina ash, Fraxinus caroliniana: a small tree of 20 to 60 feet for zones 7 to 10, when it flowers and fruits, 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/carolina-ash/

![A hanging cluster of Carolina ash's broad, flat green samaras against a black background](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/carolina-ash-1000.jpg?v=ee0f319c "Carolina ash's broad, flat samaras, photographed on August 12, 2013. They ripen from July to October.")
*Photo: DouglasGoldman, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFraxinus_caroliniana6.jpg))*

Small tree, 20 to 60 feet, zones 7 to 10; full sun, part shade or shade; average or wet ground.

We do not grow Carolina 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.

Emerald ash borer, a beetle from Asia that has killed millions of ash trees in North America, feeds on every native ash, Carolina ash included. An ash it infests is likely to die, sometimes within a year where the beetle is well established.

## At a glance

| Fact | Carolina Ash |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Pop ash, Florida ash, poppy ash |
| Form | Small tree |
| Height, feet | 20 to 60 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 10 |
| Zones | 7 to 10 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Average or wet ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Wildlife value |
| Flowers | February to May |
| Fruit | Samaras, July to October |
| Pollination | Separate male and female trees. Male and female flowers grow on separate trees, so a female tree bears seed only with a male nearby. |
| Lifespan | Typically lives 50 years. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Floodplain forests, stream banks, the forest understory, swamps and wet flats |
| Native in | 10 states |

Carolina ash is native in 10 states: [Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX) and [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from the Woody Plant Seed Manual 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=carolina-ash): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=carolina-ash): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=carolina-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=carolina-ash): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=carolina-ash): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=carolina-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=carolina-ash): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=carolina-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=carolina-ash): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=carolina-ash): the tree age calculator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=carolina-ash): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Two-wing Silverbell](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/two-wing-silverbell/index.html.md) (*Halesia diptera*): small tree, 15 to 30 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, stream banks, the forest understory, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Sweetleaf](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sweetleaf/index.html.md) (*Symplocos tinctoria*): small tree, 15 to 30 feet, zones 7 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, stream banks and the forest understory in the wild.
- [Pawpaw](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pawpaw/index.html.md) (*Asimina triloba*): small tree, 15 to 30 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, stream banks and the forest understory in the wild.
- [American Hornbeam (Musclewood)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-hornbeam/index.html.md) (*Carpinus caroliniana*): small tree, 20 to 35 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, stream banks and the forest understory in the wild.
- [Mayhaw](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mayhaw/index.html.md) (*Crataegus aestivalis*): small tree, 10 to 40 feet, zones 4 to 10. Shares floodplain forests, stream banks, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Carolina Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/carolina-willow/index.html.md) (*Salix caroliniana*): small tree, 15 to 30 feet, zones 6 to 10. Shares floodplain forests, stream banks, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Every companion of Carolina ash in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=carolina-ash)

## Read from

Its figures come from the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, NC State Extension, the Wildflower Center, UF/IFAS Extension, Virginia Tech's dendrology site, the Florida Native Plant Society, the Atlas of Florida Plants, NC State University and Texas A&M Forest Service.