Kentucky: 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 Kentucky
191 of our 364 trees and shrubs are native to Kentucky
Recorded there by the USDA PLANTS Database, and native there by the rules below.
PLANTS has no record of Bear Huckleberry in Kentucky. NatureServe places it there.
Native here does not mean hardy where you are. Each card gives its zones, and the ZIP code tool finds yours.
43 large trees
25 medium trees
44 small trees
79 shrubs
Recorded in Kentucky
Native only to part of the country
PLANTS records these growing wild in Kentucky, 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.
Mountain Doghobble Leucothoe fontanesiana
USDA PLANTS also records it wild in Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, beyond its native range.
Gray Birch Betula populifolia
It also turns up in a few counties of Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina, beyond its main range.
Corkwood Leitneria floridana
It grows wild along the Gulf coast of Florida and in two swamp systems of south Georgia, in freshwater and tidal marshes.
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.
Southern Magnolia Magnolia grandiflora
It grows wild on the Coastal Plain from southeastern North Carolina to central Florida and west to eastern Texas. Birds carry its seed from planted trees, and it now grows wild well north and inland of that range.
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.
Recorded in Kentucky
Introduced, not native
PLANTS records these growing wild in Kentucky and lists them as introduced to the region.
166 of our trees and shrubs are not recorded in Kentucky
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, American Beautyberry, American Fly Honeysuckle, American Mountain Ash, Arkansas Oak, Ashe's Magnolia, Atlantic White Cedar, Bartram's Serviceberry, Beach Plum, Beaked Hazelnut, Bigleaf Witch Hazel, Blue Ridge St. John's-wort, Blueberry Hawthorn, Bluejack Oak, Bluff Oak, Bog Spicebush, Bottlebrush Buckeye, Boynton Oak, Bracted Arrowwood, Broom Crowberry, Buckwheat Tree, Canada Buffaloberry, Canada Plum, Carolina Bog Laurel, Carolina Hemlock, Carolina Laurelcherry, Carolina St. John's-wort, Catberry, Cedar Elm, Chalk Maple, Chapman Oak, Chapman's St. John's-wort, Climbing Fetterbush, Clusterspike Indigobush, Coastal Azalea, Creeping Blueberry, Creeping Juniper, Dahoon, Delta Post Oak, Devilwood, Durand Oak, Dwarf Live Oak, Dwarf Pawpaw, Dwarf Tupelo, Dwarf Witch Alder, Elliott's Blueberry, Fevertree, Flag Pawpaw, Flatwoods Plum, Florida Anise, Florida Bully, Florida Flame Azalea, Florida Leucothoe, Florida Swamp Privet, Florida Torreya, Florida Willow, Florida Yew, Four-petal Pawpaw, Franklin Tree, Fraser Fir, Georgia Bully, Georgia Indigobush, Georgia Oak, Georgia Plume, Godfrey's Swamp Privet, Golden Heather, Granite Gooseberry, Hairy Blueberry, Hairy Laurel, Harbison's Hawthorn, Hercules' Club, Honeycup, Inkberry, Laurel Oak, Leadplant, Little Walnut, Littleleaf Buckbrush, Live Oak, Lloyd's St. John's-wort, Loblolly Bay, Long-stalked Holly, Longleaf Pine, Maple-leaf Oak, May White Azalea, Mayhaw, Miccosukee Gooseberry, Michaux's Sumac, Minnie-bush, Mountain Bush-honeysuckle, Mountain Fetterbush, Mountain Indigobush, Mountain Witch Alder, Myrtle Dahoon, Myrtle Oak, Nantucket Serviceberry, Netted Pawpaw, Northern Bayberry, Northern Pin Oak, Nutmeg Hickory, Oconee Azalea, Odorless Bayberry, Ogeechee Tupelo, Oglethorpe Oak, Ouachita Indigobush, Ozark Chinquapin, Ozark Witch Hazel, Painted Buckeye, Pinkshell Azalea, Piratebush, Plateau Live Oak, Plumleaf Azalea, Pond Cypress, Pond Pine, Pondberry, Pondspice, Pygmy Fringetree, Rabbiteye Blueberry, Red Hills Azalea, Red Spruce, Redbay, Rhodora, Runner Oak, Sand Pine, Sand Post Oak, Sandhill Oak, Sarvis Holly, Schwerin's Indigobush, Scrub Hickory, Scrub Plum, Seaside Alder, Shadblow Serviceberry, Silky Camellia, Silverleaf Hydrangea, Slimleaf Pawpaw, Smooth Winterberry, Smooth-bark St. John's-wort, Southern Bush-honeysuckle, Southern Pawpaw, Spruce Pine, Squashberry, Staggerbush, Swamp Azalea, Swamp Doghobble, Sweet Pepperbush (Summersweet), Sweetbay Magnolia, Sweetleaf, Table Mountain Pine, Tamarack, Texas Red Oak, Three-flower Hawthorn, Titi, Tough Bully, Toughleaf Dogwood, Turkey Oak, Two-wing Silverbell, Walter's Viburnum, Weeping Hawthorn, Western Mayhaw, White Wicky, Woolly Beach Heather, Woolly Huckleberry, Woolly Pawpaw, Yaupon, Yellow Anise
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For Cherrybark Oak, Wye Island line, Swamp Chestnut Oak, select line, Black Gum (Tupelo), American Basswood (Linden), Black Locust, Northern Catalpa, Cucumber Magnolia, Kentucky Coffeetree, Bald Cypress, Blue Ash, Northern Pecan, Shagbark Hickory: 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.