Connecticut: the native trees and shrubs we grow
Pick a state and see which of the 364 trees and shrubs we grow are recorded growing wild there, by the USDA PLANTS Database. Some of our trees have spread well beyond their native range. Those count as native only in the states their original range reaches, and elsewhere they are listed apart with their page's own sentence. A state record is a start, not a verdict on your ground. The planting-site check asks about the location itself.
Native and recorded in Connecticut
117 of our 364 trees and shrubs are native to Connecticut
Recorded there by the USDA PLANTS Database, and native there by the rules below.
Native here does not mean hardy where you are. Each card gives its zones, and the ZIP code tool finds yours.
22 large trees
16 medium trees
20 small trees
59 shrubs
Recorded in Connecticut
Native only to part of the country
PLANTS records these growing wild in Connecticut, but their native range does not reach it. Each has spread here from planting or rests on an old or mistaken record. The sentence under each gives its native range or the reason.
Black Locust Robinia pseudoacacia
It grows wild in two blocks, the Appalachians from central Pennsylvania and southern Ohio south to northern Georgia and Alabama, and the Ozarks of Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. It has since spread across the country.
Yellowwood Cladrastis kentukea
It grows wild in a scattered range centered on Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, with outlying stands from Indiana and Illinois to Missouri and Arkansas.
Northern Catalpa Catalpa speciosa
Its native ground is a small area of the central Mississippi Valley in western Tennessee, northeast Arkansas, eastern Missouri, western Kentucky and southern Illinois and Indiana. After 200 years of planting it grows across most eastern states.
Cucumber Magnolia Magnolia acuminata
It grows wild on cool moist mountain sites from western New York and southern Ontario southwest to Indiana, Missouri and Louisiana, and east to northwest Florida and Georgia. In the mountains it runs north to Pennsylvania.
Kentucky Coffeetree Gymnocladus dioicus
It grows wild in rich bottomlands from New York, Pennsylvania, southern Ontario and Minnesota south to eastern Nebraska, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Indigobush (False Indigo) Amorpha fruticosa
It fruits freely, birds and water carry it, and it has made a nuisance of itself along rivers outside its home range.
Bristly Locust (Rose Locust) Robinia hispida
It grows wild in the mountains from Virginia to Kentucky and south to Georgia and Alabama, in open woods, on mountain slopes and on sand hills, and it has spread far beyond that range.
Common Hoptree (Wafer Ash) Ptelea trifoliata
It grows wild from Ontario and New York south to Florida and west to Minnesota, in open woods, glades, ravines, thickets and rocky ground.
Devil's Walking Stick Aralia spinosa
It grows wild from New York and Pennsylvania south to Florida and west to southwestern Iowa and western Texas, in low woods, thickets, ravines and along streams.
Umbrella Magnolia Magnolia tripetala
It grows wild from southern Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana south to South Carolina, the Florida panhandle and Mississippi, with outlying stands in the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains.
Downy Hawthorn Crataegus mollis
Flora of North America treats scattered records farther east as misidentified plants or recent introductions.
Clammy Locust Robinia viscosa
It is probably native only to the mountains of western North Carolina and Tennessee, and perhaps nearby states, at 500 to 4,000 feet. Planted for its flowers, it has escaped and spread far beyond that range, north to Nova Scotia and west to Wisconsin.
Sweetshrub Calycanthus floridus
It grows wild in woods, along streams and at woodland edges from Virginia, eastern Kentucky and central Tennessee south to the Florida Panhandle and west to eastern Louisiana. Centuries of planting have blurred that range, and in states such as Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts it grows wild only where it has escaped from gardens.
Southern Catalpa Catalpa bignonioides
Its native ground is the Gulf coastal plain, from southwest Georgia and the Florida panhandle west through Alabama and Mississippi to Louisiana. After three centuries of planting it grows wild across most of the East.
Golden St. John's-wort Hypericum frondosum
Garden plants have run wild in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.
Climbing Prairie Rose Rosa setigera
In New England, along much of the Atlantic coast and in Mississippi and Louisiana, it was brought in from the Midwest or escaped from gardens.
Scentless Mock Orange Philadelphus inodorus
It is native from Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky south to Florida and Mississippi, and it grows wild as an introduced plant in many states to the north and west.
Eastern Wahoo Euonymus atropurpureus
It has been planted widely and grows wild in New England, beyond its native range.
Wild Hydrangea Hydrangea arborescens
It grows wild from southern New York west to Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma, and south to Louisiana and Florida.
Willow Oak Quercus phellos
It grows wild on the Coastal Plain from New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania to northern Florida and eastern Texas, and up the Mississippi Valley to southern Illinois and Kentucky.
Recorded in Connecticut
Introduced, not native
PLANTS records these growing wild in Connecticut and lists them as introduced to the region.
226 of our trees and shrubs are not recorded in Connecticut
Not recorded growing wild there by PLANTS. Many still grow well there when planted: hardiness, soil and sun decide that, not the state line. Each page gives the tree's zones.
Alabama Azalea, Alabama Croton, Alabama Snow-wreath, Allegheny Chinquapin, American Beautyberry, American Crabapple, American Smoketree, American Snowbell, Arkansas Oak, Ashe's Magnolia, Bald Cypress, Bartram's Serviceberry, Bear Huckleberry, Bigleaf Magnolia, Bigleaf Snowbell, Bigleaf Witch Hazel, Black Hickory, Blackjack Oak, Blue Ash, Blue Ridge St. John's-wort, Blueberry Hawthorn, Bluejack Oak, Bluff Oak, Bog Spicebush, Bottlebrush Buckeye, Box Huckleberry, Boynton Oak, Bracted Arrowwood, Broom Crowberry, Buckthorn Bully, Buckwheat Tree, Canada Buffaloberry, Carolina Bog Laurel, Carolina Buckthorn, Carolina Hemlock, Carolina Laurelcherry, Carolina St. John's-wort, Catawba Rhododendron, Cedar Elm, Chalk Maple, Chapman Oak, Chapman's St. John's-wort, Cherrybark Oak, Wye Island line, Chickasaw Plum, Cinnamon Clethra, Climbing Fetterbush, Clusterspike Indigobush, Coastal Azalea, Conjurer's-nut, Corkwood, Creeping Blueberry, Cumberland Azalea, Cumberland Rosemary, Dahoon, Delta Post Oak, Devilwood, Durand Oak, Dwarf Live Oak, Dwarf Pawpaw, Dwarf Tupelo, Dwarf Witch Alder, Elliott's Blueberry, Farkleberry, Fevertree, Flag Pawpaw, Flatwoods Plum, Florida Anise, Florida Bully, Florida Flame Azalea, Florida Leucothoe, Florida Maple, Florida Swamp Privet, Florida Torreya, Florida Willow, Florida Yew, Four-petal Pawpaw, Franklin Tree, Fraser Fir, Fraser Magnolia, Georgia Bully, Georgia Indigobush, Georgia Oak, Georgia Plume, Godfrey's Swamp Privet, Granite Gooseberry, Green Hawthorn, Gum Bumelia, Hairy Blueberry, Hairy Laurel, Harbison's Hawthorn, Hercules' Club, Honeycup, Hortulan Plum, Lanceleaf Buckthorn, Laurel Oak, Leadplant, Little Walnut, Littlehip Hawthorn, Littleleaf Buckbrush, Live Oak, Lloyd's St. John's-wort, Loblolly Bay, Long-stalked Holly, Longleaf Pine, Maple-leaf Oak, May White Azalea, Mayhaw, Mexican Plum, Miccosukee Gooseberry, Michaux's Sumac, Minnie-bush, Mountain Bush-honeysuckle, Mountain Camellia (Mountain Stewartia), Mountain Doghobble, Mountain Fetterbush, Mountain Indigobush, Mountain Sweetbells, Mountain Witch Alder, Myrtle Dahoon, Myrtle Oak, Nantucket Serviceberry, Netted Pawpaw, Northern Pecan, Northern Pin Oak, Nutmeg Hickory, Nuttall Oak, Oconee Azalea, Odorless Bayberry, Ogeechee Tupelo, Oglethorpe Oak, Ohio Buckeye, Ouachita Indigobush, Overcup Oak, Ozark Chinquapin, Ozark Witch Hazel, Painted Buckeye, Parsley Hawthorn, Pear Hawthorn, Piedmont Azalea, Piedmont Rhododendron, Pinkshell Azalea, Piratebush, Plateau Live Oak, Plumleaf Azalea, Pond Cypress, Pond Pine, Pondberry, Pondspice, Possumhaw, Prairie Crabapple, Prairie Redroot, Pygmy Fringetree, Pyramid Magnolia, Rabbiteye Blueberry, Red Buckeye, Red Hills Azalea, Redbay, Roughleaf Dogwood, Runner Oak, Rusty Blackhaw, Sand Cherry, Sand Hickory, Sand Myrtle, Sand Pine, Sand Post Oak, Sandhill Oak, Sarvis Holly, Schwerin's Indigobush, Scrub Hickory, Scrub Plum, Seaside Alder, September Elm, Shellbark Hickory (Kingnut), Shingle Oak, Shining Indigobush, Shumard Oak, Silky Camellia, Silverleaf Hydrangea, Slimleaf Pawpaw, Smooth-bark St. John's-wort, Softleaf Arrowwood, Sourwood, Southern Bush-honeysuckle, Southern Crabapple, Southern Magnolia, Southern Pawpaw, Southern Red Oak, Southern Shagbark Hickory, Spruce Pine, Squashberry, Strawberry Bush, Streambank Mock Orange, Sugarberry, Swamp Chestnut Oak, select line, Swamp Privet, Swamp Tupelo, Sweet Azalea, Sweetbay Magnolia, Sweetleaf, Table Mountain Pine, Texas Red Oak, Three-flower Hawthorn, Titi, Tough Bully, Toughleaf Dogwood, Turkey Oak, Two-wing Silverbell, Upland Swamp Privet, Virginia Spiraea, Virginia Sweetspire, Walter's Viburnum, Washington Hawthorn, Water Elm, Water Hickory, Water Locust, Water Tupelo, Weeping Hawthorn, Western Mayhaw, White Fringetree, White Wicky, Winged Elm, Woolly Huckleberry, Woolly Pawpaw, Yaupon, Yellow Anise, Yellow Buckeye
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Email me when any of these 12 is ready to order
For Black Gum (Tupelo), American Basswood (Linden), Shagbark Hickory, Black Walnut, Common Hackberry, Mockernut Hickory, Pignut Hickory, Bitternut Hickory, Rock Elm, Black Oak, Black Maple, Yellow Birch: one email per plant when it is priced or back in stock, and nothing else.
How the lists are made
- Recorded in the state. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service's PLANTS Database, the national standard for plant distribution, records a species in a state when a specimen or a published record places it growing there on its own. The lists hold the trees and shrubs we grow that it records in the state.
- Native there. PLANTS gives native status for a region, the lower 48 states as one, rather than for each state. So a species native to the East that has escaped from planting in a western state is recorded there as native to the region. A tree or shrub counts as native in a state PLANTS gives it as native, unless a narrower range is on record.
- A narrower range. For 95 of our trees and shrubs the records carry the states their native range reaches. They come from the Forest Service's Silvics of North America and range descriptions, NatureServe Explorer's state records, the NRCS plant guides, the Biota of North America Program's atlas and the state floras.
- How a state is set apart. A state where NatureServe calls a tree or shrub introduced is set apart when the range on its own page does not reach it. So is a western state where NatureServe has no record of it, far from that range. So is a state clearly outside the native range that Silvics of North America gives.
- Listed apart. In a state its native range does not reach, a tree or shrub PLANTS records there is listed apart, under a sentence from its page on its range or on the record. Some trees and shrubs have spread far beyond their native range. Black locust, rose locust and the two catalpas have spread the farthest, each into 32 or 33 other states.
- Added from another record. Where the range on a plant page reaches a state PLANTS lacks, the state is added, and its heading names the record that places the tree or shrub there. Bigleaf witch hazel was described in 2006, and PLANTS records it in Alabama and Mississippi only, so its Florida, Georgia and Texas records are NatureServe's. Another 24 trees and shrubs each carry a state or two this way, such as long-stalked holly's Georgia and Tennessee.
- Introduced. A species PLANTS lists as introduced to the region is listed as introduced, not native.
- Not recorded. The rest of our trees and shrubs, which PLANTS does not record growing wild in the state, are named in the fold under the lists. Many still grow well there when planted.
- Your zone. The line under the heading counts the natives rated for the zone this device remembers, by each card's own zones, as the shop's zone filter counts them. Native here does not mean hardy where you are.
- The order. The natives come by mature size, from large trees to shrubs. Within each size, Featured is the shop's own order.
A state line is a surveyor's line. A species recorded in the next state, on the same river and the same soil, belongs on your ground as much as anything on this list, and one recorded in your state may be native only to a corner of it. Why the range maps are wrong goes through the errors every range map carries and what to trust instead: herbarium records, state atlases and your own eyes. Each plant page states the native range in words, from the Forest Service's silvics and the state extension services.
Sources: USDA, NRCS. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov), state records read on 2026-09-23. National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA. NatureServe. 2026. NatureServe Explorer (https://explorer.natureserve.org), state records read on 2026-10-05. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Burns, R. M. and B. H. Honkala, technical coordinators. 1990. Silvics of North America. Agriculture Handbook 654. USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC.