Shagbark Hickory

Highlights

Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) is the tree that looks like it’s coming apart. On an old trunk the bark breaks into long gray plates, 1-3 foot long, that curl away at the ends like peeling wallpaper. You can spot one across a field in winter.

It’s a big, slow, long-lived tree, the kind you plant for your grandchildren. It makes sweet nuts that taste similar in taste and use to the pecan, it can live 200 to 300 years, and that shaggy bark is a nursery for endangered bats.

Is shagbark hickory a good choice for my yard?

Yes, if…

• You have room for a big tree. It grows 70 to 90 feet tall and 50 to 70 feet wide.
• You’re planting for the long haul. It grows slowly, about half as fast as a white oak, and lives for centuries.
• You want to feed wildlife. Squirrels, chipmunks, wild turkeys, wood ducks and black bears eat the nuts.
• Your winters are cold. It’s hardy in zones 4 to 8.

Skip it if…

• You want nuts soon. A tree grown from seed begins producing seed at approximately 40 years. Grafted cultivars bear much sooner.
• You might move it. NC State says the deep taproot makes it difficult to transplant. Plant it where it can stay for good.
• It would shade a patio or a parking spot. Big trees drop ample litter, and hickory nuts in their husks are heavy.
• You have a small yard. Look at a smaller nut or fruit tree instead, like American plum or pawpaw.

Why shagbark hickory matters

Hickory nuts are rich food for wildlife. The Forest Service lists the mallard, wood duck, northern bobwhite, and wild turkey among the birds that eat them, and the nuts are a preferred food of squirrels. Good crops come every one to three years.

Hickories host 284 native moths and butterflies in the Shropshire-Tallamy caterpillar records. That includes the hickory horned devil, the largest caterpillar found in North America, which grows to about 5.5 inches, sports orange horns and is completely harmless. It also feeds on walnut, sweetgum, sumac and persimmon, and it turns into the regal moth.

A bat hotel

The loose plates of bark make roosts. Endangered Indiana bats raise their pups under the loose bark of dead trees and live trees possessing a characteristic shaggy bark. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service guidelines in Indiana tell foresters not to cut shagbark and shellbark hickories during thinning, because they have relatively high value as maternity roosts for Indiana and northern long-eared bats. Duke Gardens notes the bark also shelters brown creepers, tiny birds that hunt insects in the cracks.

Where shagbark hickory shines in your yard

• A legacy shade tree in the middle of a big lawn or field.
• A woodland edge, mixed with oaks and an understory of native shrubs.
• A wildlife planting on a farm or large lot.
• A nut orchard, with grafted cultivars for faster harvests.
• A winter feature where the shaggy trunk catches low sun.

How to grow shagbark hickory

Start small

Plant a small container tree, or sow fresh nuts right where you want the tree. Seedlings grow a large and deep taproot first, sometimes 2 to 3 feet down in their first three years while the top barely moves. Small trees settle in far better than big ones.

Sun and soil

Full sun to part shade. It’s intermediate in shade tolerance. NC State says it prefers fertile, deep, soil that is well-drained, and it’s drought tolerant once established. It handles a range of pH, alkaline included.

Water and patience

Water the first two or three summers during dry spells. Then mostly leave it alone. The first few years are about roots; growth above ground picks up after that.

Getting nuts sooner

For nuts in years instead of decades, buy a grafted cultivar from a nut nursery. Kentucky’s extension service notes that hickory grafts on older trees may produce in three to four years. Named shagbark selections include ‘Grainger’, with very large nuts, and ‘Weschcke’, an early bearer that Trees and Shrubs Online lists as male-sterile, so it needs other hickories nearby.

When does the bark get shaggy?

Not right away. Young trees have smooth or scaly gray bark. The shagging is usually not visible on young trunks and typically appears around 30-40 years old. If you plant one now, someone will be peeling at its bark in the 2060s.

What are good pairings for shagbark hickory?

Plant it with the understory of an eastern hardwood woods: pawpaw, spicebush, redbud, wild geranium and Christmas fern. Tulip poplar is a tall, faster-growing canopy partner.

Where can I buy shagbark hickory?

Native nurseries and state forestry nurseries sell seedlings, usually small because of the taproot. For grafted cultivars, look to specialty nut nurseries. Start with our list of native plant nurseries or order online.

Shagbark hickory is a gift to the future: slow to start, then generous for centuries with nuts, shade and shelter. If you have the space, few trees give back more. For another big native shade tree with wildlife value, see tulip poplar. Happy planting!

Written by

Emily Lessard

Founder & Editor, The Plant Native

Emily Lessard is the founder and editor of The Plant Native, the site that helps homeowners across North America get started with native plants. She holds a Sustainable Landscapes certificate through the Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association, is finishing a Native Perennial Garden Design Certificate at Temple University, and is the author of Plant Native: A Practical Guide to Over 100 Native Plants of North America (Quarto, March 2027). She gardens outside Philadelphia in the 8.3 Southeastern Plains ecoregion.

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Updated October 12, 2026Find more: Edible · Fall Foliage · Keystone · Tall Tree · Tree

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