Is an american sycamore a good tree to plant in Indiana?
American Sycamore can work here, with caveats. Native and abundant along central Indiana's waterways — the White River, Fall Creek and Eagle Creek corridors — and it holds some of the largest-diameter trees in the state. It is one of the few big shade trees that genuinely tolerates the compacted, poorly drained clay left in stripped subdivisions, which is a real argument in its favor; the argument against is simply that most residential lots have nowhere near enough room for what it becomes.
What you'd be signing up to clean up
The messiest common tree in the region, and it litters in all four seasons: leathery leaves the size of a dinner plate that resist composting and pack gutters solid, bark plates shedding year-round onto beds and parked cars, and inch-wide seed balls hanging on long stalks through winter that disintegrate in spring. The fine hairs released as those seed balls break apart are a real skin and respiratory irritant, so raking them dry on a windy day is a job worth a mask.
Where to keep it away from
Big, vigorous and shallow near the surface, exactly as you would expect from a floodplain species, and the standard guidance is to keep it well away from walks, drives and foundations. Note that the setback advice is often misunderstood: roots cannot crack a sound sewer lateral, they only exploit joints that are already failing, so the honest reason not to plant one over a line is that you do not want to remove a mature sycamore the day that line needs excavating.
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