Is a shagbark hickory a good tree to plant in Indiana?
Shagbark Hickory can work here, with caveats. Common as a native in central-Indiana upland woodlots and preserved fencerows, particularly in the wooded pockets of Hamilton, Boone, and Morgan counties. Nurseries rarely stock it because of the taproot, so essentially every yard specimen predates the house standing next to it.
What you'd be signing up to clean up
Nuts in thick four-part husks drop hard from 60 ft or more through September and October — they sting on a driveway, roll underfoot, and jam mower decks. The second one catches people off guard: long curling bark plates shed off the trunk year-round and pile at the base, and homeowners routinely mistake that shedding for proof the tree is dying.
Where to keep it away from
A deep taproot with wide laterals makes it one of the most wind-firm trees on this list and one of the worst to transplant at any size — even seedlings resent it. Because so much of the system is deep, it is rarely the tree lifting a walk, but that same depth is why it cannot recover from the compaction and grade changes construction inflicts on it.
Related
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