Is a black walnut a good tree to plant in Indiana?
Black Walnut can work here, with caveats. Extremely common in central-Indiana fencerows, back lots, and yards, most of it squirrel-planted rather than intentionally set. Indiana has held an external quarantine on walnut wood and hardwood firewood since 2011 over thousand cankers disease — the causal fungus and beetle have been detected in the state, but the disease has not been found killing standing Indiana walnut trees.
What you'd be signing up to clean up
Green hulls the size of tennis balls drop from height between September and November, dent car hoods, roll underfoot on drives and walks, and rot into black slime on concrete. The hulls stain concrete, decking, and hands more or less permanently, and squirrels cache them across the entire property, which is why homeowners describe the mess as bigger than the tree.
Where to keep it away from
Deep taproot, which is why walnut sits tight in wind and why nursery stock is difficult to move, and why the roots causing problems are generally under the tree rather than out in the drive. The real root issue here is chemical rather than mechanical: juglone concentrates in the roots and lingers in the soil, so a bed that failed under a walnut often keeps failing for a season or more after the tree is gone.
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