Answered for Greenwood, Johnson County.
The cambium — the living layer just under the bark that builds new wood and moves food down to the roots — was killed in that patch, and the tree is now conducting around a dead strip. A narrow strip gets grown over in a few seasons and leaves a scar. A strip that wraps far enough around leaves the tree partly girdled, and the crown above it thins as the remaining live tissue gets overloaded. Either way the exposed wood becomes an open invitation to borers and canker fungi that would not touch intact bark. In Greenwood — Old Town Greenwood, Green Valley and Imperial Hills included, that's normally a tree trimming job at $250–$1,400. Not urgent.
NWS Indianapolis logs 23 tornadoes in Johnson County from 1950-2025. Near Greenwood specifically: an F3 on September 20, 2002 ($25M, the county's costliest) and an F2 on March 31, 2006 ($3M). More recently, an EF3 hit New Whiteland on March 31, 2023 ($6.67M), and on June 25, 2023 an EF2 with 115 mph winds tracked 5.4 miles near Bargersville, just west of Greenwood, passing south of Center Grove High School and snapping trees and power poles. The June 29, 2012 derecho also crossed the area.
Two separate canopies in one city. The pre-1960 blocks around Old Town and near County Line Road hold Greenwood's only genuinely mature shade trees — just 9% of the housing stock predates 1960 — while the subdivisions east of I-65 are 2000s-era plantings still small enough to prune off a ladder. Ash is functionally gone: emerald ash borer has been confirmed in Indiana since April 2004 and is now in all 92 counties.
No permit is required to remove a tree on private property in Greenwood. Tree rules in the city code are all about new development and the public way: the UDO's landscaping standards require street trees along frontage and give credit for preserving existing large-caliper trees, separate provisions restrict planting in the public way, and the Stormwater Department's Easement Encroachment Permit is required before planting any tree or shrub inside an existing drainage or utility easement. The specific UDO section numbers and planting ratios could not be verified against the live code — confirm with Planning and the Stormwater Department. Cutting down your own backyard tree needs nothing.
The strip between sidewalk and street is public right-of-way. Greenwood's UDO governs where required street trees are placed relative to the curb and sidewalk, but that placement rule could not be confirmed against the live code, so check with the Planning Department before assuming a given curb-strip tree is the city's problem or yours. One exception worth knowing: County Line Road, Greenwood's northern boundary, is under the control of the City of Indianapolis, not Greenwood, per the city's own comprehensive plan.
1251 U.S. Hwy 31 N, Greenwood, IN 46142
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Distance measured from Greenwood.