Wisconsin: 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 Wisconsin
93 of our 364 trees and shrubs are native to Wisconsin
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.
20 large trees
10 medium trees
19 small trees
44 shrubs
Recorded in Wisconsin
Native only to part of the country
PLANTS records these growing wild in Wisconsin, 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.
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.
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.
American Chestnut Castanea dentata
It was also planted far beyond its native range, west to Iowa and Wisconsin (Flora of North America).
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).
Ohio Buckeye Aesculus glabra
It grows wild from western Pennsylvania, Ohio and southern Michigan west to Iowa, and south to eastern Kansas, central Texas and central Alabama. It has been planted north and east of that range, and it escapes from planting in New York.
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.
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.
263 of our trees and shrubs are not recorded in Wisconsin
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, Allegheny Plum, American Beautyberry, American Holly, select line, American Persimmon, American Smoketree, American Snowbell, Arkansas Oak, Arrowwood Viburnum, Ashe's Magnolia, Atlantic White Cedar, Bald Cypress, Beach Plum, Bear Huckleberry, Bear Oak (Scrub Oak), Bigleaf Magnolia, Bigleaf Snowbell, Bigleaf Witch Hazel, Black Hickory, Blackjack Oak, 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, Carolina Bog Laurel, Carolina Buckthorn, Carolina Hemlock, Carolina Laurelcherry, Carolina Silverbell, Carolina St. John's-wort, Catawba Rhododendron, Cedar Elm, Chalk Maple, Chapman Oak, Chapman's St. John's-wort, Cherrybark Oak, Wye Island line, Chestnut Oak, Chickasaw Plum, Chinese Chestnut, Cinnamon Clethra, Climbing Fetterbush, Clusterspike Indigobush, Coastal Azalea, Conjurer's-nut, Corkwood, Creeping Blueberry, Cucumber Magnolia, Cumberland Azalea, Cumberland Rosemary, Dahoon, Dangleberry, Deerberry, Delta Post Oak, Devil's Walking Stick, Devilwood, Durand Oak, Dwarf Hackberry, Dwarf Live Oak, Dwarf Pawpaw, Dwarf Tupelo, Dwarf Witch Alder, Elliott's Blueberry, Farkleberry, Fevertree, Flag Pawpaw, Flame Azalea, Flatwoods Plum, Florida Anise, Florida Bully, Florida Flame Azalea, Florida Leucothoe, Florida Maple, Florida Swamp Privet, Florida Torreya, Florida Willow, Florida Yew, Flowering Dogwood, Four-petal Pawpaw, Franklin Tree, Fraser Fir, Fraser Magnolia, Georgia Bully, Georgia Indigobush, Georgia Oak, Georgia Plume, Godfrey's Swamp Privet, Golden Heather, Golden St. John's-wort, Granite Gooseberry, Gray Birch, Green Hawthorn, Gum Bumelia, Hairy Blueberry, Hairy Laurel, Harbison's Hawthorn, Hercules' Club, Hobblebush, Honeycup, Hortulan Plum, Inkberry, Laurel Oak, Little Walnut, Littlehip Hawthorn, Littleleaf Buckbrush, Live Oak, Lloyd's St. John's-wort, Loblolly Bay, Long-stalked Holly, Longleaf Pine, Maleberry, Maple-leaf Oak, May White Azalea, Mayhaw, Miccosukee Gooseberry, Michaux's Sumac, Minnie-bush, Mockernut Hickory, Mountain Bush-honeysuckle, Mountain Camellia (Mountain Stewartia), Mountain Doghobble, Mountain Fetterbush, Mountain Indigobush, Mountain Laurel, Mountain Sweetbells, Mountain Winterberry, Mountain Witch Alder, Myrtle Dahoon, Myrtle Oak, Nantucket Serviceberry, Netted Pawpaw, Northern Bayberry, Northern Pecan, Nutmeg Hickory, Nuttall Oak, Oconee Azalea, Odorless Bayberry, Ogeechee Tupelo, Oglethorpe Oak, Ouachita Indigobush, Overcup Oak, Ozark Chinquapin, Ozark Witch Hazel, Painted Buckeye, Parsley Hawthorn, Piedmont Azalea, Piedmont Rhododendron, Pignut Hickory, Pinkshell Azalea, Pinxterbloom Azalea, Piratebush, Plateau Live Oak, Plumleaf Azalea, Pond Cypress, Pond Pine, Pondberry, Pondspice, Possumhaw, Possumhaw Viburnum, Post Oak, Pygmy Fringetree, Pyramid Magnolia, Rabbiteye Blueberry, Red Buckeye, Red Chokeberry, Red Hills Azalea, Red Spruce, Redbay, Rhodora, Rosebay Rhododendron, Runner Oak, Rusty Blackhaw, Sand Hickory, Sand Myrtle, Sand Pine, Sand Post Oak, Sandhill Oak, Sarvis Holly, Schwerin's Indigobush, Scrub Hickory, Scrub Plum, Seaside Alder, September Elm, Shadblow Serviceberry, Shellbark Hickory (Kingnut), Shingle Oak, Shining Indigobush, Shumard Oak, Silky Camellia, Silky Dogwood, Silverleaf Hydrangea, Slimleaf Pawpaw, Smooth Alder (Swamp Alder), Smooth Winterberry, Smooth-bark St. John's-wort, Softleaf Arrowwood, Sourwood, Southern Bush-honeysuckle, Southern Catalpa, Southern Crabapple, Southern Magnolia, Southern Pawpaw, Southern Red Oak, Southern Shagbark Hickory, Spicebush, Spruce Pine, Staggerbush, Strawberry Bush, Streambank Mock Orange, Sugarberry, Swamp Azalea, Swamp Chestnut Oak, select line, Swamp Cottonwood, Swamp Doghobble, Swamp Privet, Swamp Tupelo, Sweet Azalea, Sweet Birch (Black Birch), Sweet Pepperbush (Summersweet), Sweetbay Magnolia, Sweetleaf, Sweetshrub, Table Mountain Pine, Texas Red Oak, Three-flower Hawthorn, Titi, Tough Bully, Toughleaf Dogwood, Turkey Oak, Two-wing Silverbell, Umbrella Magnolia, 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, Wild Hydrangea, Willow Oak, Winged Elm, Woolly Huckleberry, Woolly Pawpaw, Yaupon, Yellow Anise, Yellow Buckeye, Yellowwood
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For Black Gum (Tupelo), American Basswood (Linden), Kentucky Coffeetree, Blue Ash, Shagbark Hickory, Black Walnut, Common Hackberry, 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.