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.

Shrub, 4–10 ft, zones 4–8, full or part or shade sun, dry or average or wet soil. Catalog page.

In the wild

Gray Dogwood grows in old fields and edges, stream banks, dry uplands, rocky ground and the forest understory

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

Common Hackberry
Celtis occidentalis shares stream banks, rocky ground, dry uplands and old fields and edges Nannyberry
Viburnum lentago shares stream banks, old fields and edges and the forest understory American Hazelnut
Corylus americana shares the forest understory, old fields and edges and dry uplands Black Huckleberry
Gaylussacia baccata shares dry uplands, rocky ground and the forest understory Blackhaw Viburnum
Viburnum prunifolium shares the forest understory, dry uplands and old fields and edges Carolina Buckthorn
Frangula caroliniana shares rocky ground, the forest understory and dry uplands Common Hoptree (Wafer Ash)
Ptelea trifoliata shares rocky ground, the forest understory and stream banks Deerberry
Vaccinium stamineum shares dry uplands, rocky ground and the forest understory

In the yard

Trees to plant it under

Gray Dogwood takes some shade, so it can live beneath these.

In the yard

Beside it

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

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.