North Carolina: 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 North Carolina
243 of our 364 trees and shrubs are native to North Carolina
Recorded there by the USDA PLANTS Database, and native there by the rules below.
PLANTS has no record of Box Huckleberry and Durand Oak in North Carolina. NatureServe places Box Huckleberry there. The Forest Service's Woody Plant Seed Manual places Durand Oak there.
Native here does not mean hardy where you are. Each card gives its zones, and the ZIP code tool finds yours.
41 large trees
31 medium trees
59 small trees
112 shrubs
Recorded in North Carolina
Native only to part of the country
PLANTS records these growing wild in North Carolina, 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.
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.
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.
Northern Pecan Carya illinoinensis
It grows wild in the lower Mississippi Valley, west to eastern Kansas and central Texas, east to western Tennessee and north into Iowa bottomlands, on deep alluvial loam.
Mexican Plum Prunus mexicana
Records from states far from its true range, such as North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, are often hairy American plums filed under this name (Flora of North America).
Gray Birch Betula populifolia
It also turns up in a few counties of Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina, beyond its main range.
Sand Pine Pinus clausa
It has been planted beyond its native range, as on the sandhills of Georgia and South Carolina.
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.
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.
Recorded in North Carolina
Introduced, not native
PLANTS records these growing wild in North Carolina and lists them as introduced to the region.
112 of our trees and shrubs are not recorded in North Carolina
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, Alderleaf Buckthorn, American Smoketree, Arkansas Oak, Ashe's Magnolia, Bartram's Serviceberry, Beach Plum, Bigleaf Witch Hazel, Black Hickory, Blue Ash, Blueberry Hawthorn, Bottlebrush Buckeye, Boynton Oak, Bracted Arrowwood, Broom Crowberry, Buckwheat Tree, Bur Oak, Canada Buffaloberry, Canada Plum, Catberry, Cedar Elm, Chapman Oak, Chapman's St. John's-wort, Climbing Fetterbush, Corkwood, Creeping Juniper, Cumberland Rosemary, Delta Post Oak, Downy Hawthorn, Dwarf Tupelo, Fevertree, Flag Pawpaw, Florida Anise, Florida Bully, Florida Flame Azalea, Florida Swamp Privet, Florida Torreya, Florida Willow, Florida Yew, Four-petal Pawpaw, Franklin Tree, Georgia Bully, Georgia Plume, Godfrey's Swamp Privet, Golden Heather, Granite Gooseberry, Gum Bumelia, Hairy Laurel, Harbison's Hawthorn, Hortulan Plum, Lanceleaf Buckthorn, Leadplant, Little Walnut, Littleleaf Buckbrush, Maple-leaf Oak, May White Azalea, Miccosukee Gooseberry, Myrtle Oak, Nannyberry, Nantucket Serviceberry, Netted Pawpaw, Northern Pin Oak, Nuttall Oak, Oconee Azalea, Odorless Bayberry, Ogeechee Tupelo, Oglethorpe Oak, Ohio Buckeye, Ouachita Indigobush, Ozark Chinquapin, Ozark Witch Hazel, Plateau Live Oak, Plumleaf Azalea, Prairie Crabapple, Prairie Redroot, Pygmy Fringetree, Pyramid Magnolia, Red Hills Azalea, Red Osier Dogwood, Rhodora, Rock Elm, Roughleaf Dogwood, Roundleaf Dogwood, Sand Cherry, Sandhill Oak, Scrub Hickory, Scrub Plum, Seaside Alder, September Elm, Shining Indigobush, Slimleaf Pawpaw, Smooth-bark St. John's-wort, Softleaf Arrowwood, Southern Pawpaw, Spruce Pine, Squashberry, Swamp Privet, Tamarack, Texas Red Oak, Three-flower Hawthorn, Two-wing Silverbell, Upland Swamp Privet, Walter's Viburnum, Water Locust, Weeping Hawthorn, Western Mayhaw, Wild Black Currant, Woolly Huckleberry, Woolly Pawpaw, Yellow Anise
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Email me when any of these 12 is ready to order
For Cherrybark Oak, Wye Island line, Swamp Chestnut Oak, select line, Black Gum (Tupelo), American Basswood (Linden), Black Locust, Cucumber Magnolia, Bald Cypress, Shagbark Hickory, Black Walnut, Overcup Oak, Common Hackberry, Mockernut 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.