# Companion species

> Pick one native tree or shrub and see the plants that share its ground in the wild, live under its canopy, or pair with it in a yard.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/?species=pignut-hickory

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.

## 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](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mockernut-hickory/)

- [**Black Huckleberry** Gaylussacia baccata shares dry uplands, sandy barrens and rocky ground](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-huckleberry/)

- [**Blue Ash** Fraxinus quadrangulata shares rocky ground, dry uplands and rich moist slopes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/blue-ash/)

- [**Common Prickly Ash (Toothache Tree)** Zanthoxylum americanum shares rocky ground, rich moist slopes and dry uplands](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-prickly-ash/)

- [**Deerberry** Vaccinium stamineum shares dry uplands, sandy barrens and rocky ground](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/deerberry/)

- [**Dwarf Chinquapin Oak** Quercus prinoides shares dry uplands, sandy barrens and rocky ground](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/dwarf-chinquapin-oak/)

- [**New Jersey Tea** Ceanothus americanus shares dry uplands, sandy barrens and rocky ground](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/new-jersey-tea/)

- [**Sweet Birch (Black Birch)** Betula lenta shares rich moist slopes, rocky ground and dry uplands](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sweet-birch/)

## Under its canopy

Shrubs and small trees that take the shade a pignut hickory casts and like the same soil.

### [Black Huckleberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-huckleberry/)

Gaylussacia baccata

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-huckleberry/)

### [Common Prickly Ash (Toothache Tree)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-prickly-ash/)

Zanthoxylum americanum

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-prickly-ash/)

### [Deerberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/deerberry/)

Vaccinium stamineum

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/deerberry/)

### [Dwarf Chinquapin Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/dwarf-chinquapin-oak/)

Quercus prinoides

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/dwarf-chinquapin-oak/)

### [New Jersey Tea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/new-jersey-tea/)

Ceanothus americanus

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/new-jersey-tea/)

### [Allegheny Chinquapin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/allegheny-chinquapin/)

Castanea pumila

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/allegheny-chinquapin/)

## Beside it

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

### [Mockernut Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mockernut-hickory/)

Carya tomentosa

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mockernut-hickory/)

### [Blue Ash](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/blue-ash/)

Fraxinus quadrangulata

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/blue-ash/)

### [Common Hackberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-hackberry/)

Celtis occidentalis

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-hackberry/)

### [Black Gum (Tupelo)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-gum/)

Nyssa sylvatica

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-gum/)

### [Shagbark Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/shagbark-hickory/)

Carya ovata

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/shagbark-hickory/)

### [American Basswood (Linden)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-basswood/)

Tilia americana

Price on request [See availability](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-basswood/)

## 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](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/) for the spot itself, and the [growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/) for how much room each one will want in twenty years.