Blue Whale Trees
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Companion species

Pick one plant and see what grows with it: the natives that share its ground in the wild, and the ones that pair with it in a yard because they want the same sun, soil and climate.

Large tree, 40–60 ft, zones 3–9, full or part or shade sun, average or dry soil. Catalog page.

In the wild

Common Hackberry grows in floodplain forests, stream banks, rocky ground, dry uplands and old fields and edges

These natives share that ground, so they will look right together and want the same care.

Gray Dogwood
Cornus racemosa shares old fields and edges, stream banks, dry uplands and rocky ground Black Gum (Tupelo)
Nyssa sylvatica shares floodplain forests, dry uplands and old fields and edges New Jersey Tea
Ceanothus americanus shares dry uplands, rocky ground and old fields and edges Northern Catalpa
Catalpa speciosa shares floodplain forests, stream banks and old fields and edges Staghorn Sumac
Rhus typhina shares old fields and edges, dry uplands and rocky ground American Hazelnut
Corylus americana shares old fields and edges and dry uplands American Persimmon
Diospyros virginiana shares old fields and edges and floodplain forests American Plum
Prunus americana shares old fields and edges and stream banks

In the yard

Under its canopy

Shrubs and small trees that take the shade a common hackberry casts and like the same soil.

In the yard

Beside it

Plants that want the same sun and soil, for a bed, a hedge or a grove, with the same size class first.

How the matches are made

Every species we grow is tagged with the natural communities it lives in: floodplain forests, swamps, stream banks, rich slopes, dry ridges, sandy barrens, rocky ground, old fields, the forest understory, the mountains and the coast. Wild neighbors are the species that share one or more of those tags, with the closest matches first. Yard pairings use the plant's own needs instead: overlapping hardiness zones and soil moisture, and for the shade pairings, a size difference of at least two classes and a smaller plant that tolerates part shade or shade.

Sharing a habitat tag does not mean two plants always grow side by side, and a tag says nothing about how far apart to plant them. Use the planting-site check for the spot itself, and the growth estimator for how much room each one will want in twenty years.