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, 50–80 ft, zones 4–9, full or part sun, dry or average soil. Catalog page.

In the wild

Pignut Hickory grows in dry uplands, rich moist slopes, rocky ground and sandy barrens

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

Mockernut Hickory
Carya tomentosa shares dry uplands, rich moist slopes, rocky ground and sandy barrens Black Huckleberry
Gaylussacia baccata shares dry uplands, sandy barrens and rocky ground Blue Ash
Fraxinus quadrangulata shares rocky ground, dry uplands and rich moist slopes Common Prickly Ash (Toothache Tree)
Zanthoxylum americanum shares rocky ground, rich moist slopes and dry uplands Deerberry
Vaccinium stamineum shares dry uplands, sandy barrens and rocky ground Dwarf Chinquapin Oak
Quercus prinoides shares dry uplands, sandy barrens and rocky ground New Jersey Tea
Ceanothus americanus shares dry uplands, sandy barrens and rocky ground Sweet Birch (Black Birch)
Betula lenta shares rich moist slopes, rocky ground and dry uplands

In the yard

Under its canopy

Shrubs and small trees that take the shade a pignut hickory 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.