Answered for Avon, Hendricks County.
A fruiting body is the reproductive organ of a fungus that has already been eating the inside of the tree for years. By the time anything shows on the outside, decay is established in the root plate or the butt of the stem — the exact structural zone that holds the tree upright. This is the one common finding where an outwardly healthy tree can come over whole, roots and all, in an ordinary thunderstorm. It is an anchorage question, not a branch question. In Avon — Avon Heights, Beechwood Farms and Harvest Ridge included, that's normally a hazardous tree removal job at $800–$5,000. Within weeks.
NWS Indianapolis records 32 tornadoes in Hendricks County, 1950-2025. The Avon-specific one: August 15, 2016 at 5:15 p.m., an EF1 with 95 mph winds touched down briefly 1.9 miles northwest of Avon and snapped a tree trunk — part of an evening when a single long-track supercell produced several tornadoes across Hendricks, Boone, Hamilton, Tipton and Howard counties. More recently, April 2, 2025 brought an EF2 to Brownsburg Airport ($1.2M, one injury) and an EF1 in Brownsburg ($200K).
Overwhelmingly young, nursery-planted stock: only 3.4% of Avon's housing predates 1960, so the typical "big tree" here is a 20-to-30-year-old subdivision planting rather than a legacy shade tree, with exceptions in the White Lick Creek bottomland and the fencerow remnants left when farm fields were platted. Ash is gone, and Avon's street tree ordinance actively steers right-of-way planting toward tall shade-producing species, reserving ornamentals for spots where space genuinely prevents a large tree.
Avon is the outlier: it has a real street tree ordinance (Town Code Article 14, Sec. 6-196). No permit is needed for a tree entirely on private property, but you may not remove — or trim more than one-fifth of — a tree in the public right-of-way without written permission from the Tree Advisory Committee and Staff Project Coordinator. The permit is free to property owners and valid 30 days. Topping a right-of-way tree is flatly unlawful except for storm-damaged trees or utility-line situations approved by the committee. Fines run $500 for unpermitted removal, $100 for trimming, planting or damaging, and $50 for attaching objects, plus up to $3,000 per tree in damages. Town departments and utilities and their contractors are exempt.
The ordinance defines the "Tree Lawn" — the strip between curb or pavement edge and the property line — as public property. But Section 6 makes the abutting property owner ultimately responsible for planting, removal, and keeping right-of-way vegetation from becoming a hazard, and the Town Council can call on the owner to do it. The town may also plant, prune or remove there itself, and must give the underlying owner two weeks' written notice before removing a right-of-way tree unless it's an immediate hazard. Vegetation over the street must be cleared to 14 feet above the curb.
4883 Gibbs Rd, Plainfield, IN 46168
“If you’re looking for a reliable and efficient tree service, Sharper Image Tree Service truly stands out. From the moment I reached out, their team…”
Sammy Smith · 4 months ago · Google
278 N East St, Plainfield, IN 46168
“I had an excellent experience with Olivos Tree Services Plus Landscaping LLC! They cleared several trees in my backyard that were close to power…”
Alyssa Wiegand · 5 months ago · Google
240 Old North Salem Rd, Danville, IN 46122
“Paul is high energy and an expert in his field. When I first reached out for a quote, he was responsive and came over to assess the work the same…”
James Gillespie · 12 months ago · Google
1078 IN-236, Danville, IN 46122
“These guys saved our bacon! Our job was complicated to put it mildly, and an emergency. We had a tree stump growing around an actively leaking water…”
Jacob Sharp · a year ago · Google
5150 Mecca St, Indianapolis, IN 46241
“Condados Tree Service was able to come out and give me a free quote and put me in their calendar immediately to get an extremely large tree removed…”
Ashe Amos · a year ago · Google
7059 Eagle Rd, Indianapolis, IN 46278
“I was looking for some sidewalk repair and Mr. Martinez was recommended. Absolutely top-quality work at a very reasonable cost. Ruben is a consummate…”
Clint Collins · 2 years ago · Google
Distance measured from Avon.