Red Hickory
Carya ovalis
AKA - Red Hickory, Sweet Pignut Hickory
My favorite Hickory for local wildlife support. I saw this hickory one time in my local hikes and fell in love with it’s shaggy bark with thin dark plates. Some consider it a variety of Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra), while others separate it into it’s own species. I support the latter. Without even talking about it’s exquisite bark, the real difference is in the taste. The nuts are delicious and have none of the bitterness of standard pignut.
I really started to notice this tree one year I was collecting nuts as the squirrels were dropping them on top of my head. There was a feeding frenzy up in the canopy where they were stuffing their faces so fast that they dropped the fruits, sometimes whole, all over the area.
These trees make great winter interest as a landscape tree thanks to that beautiful bark, and as a hickory provide a really amazing amount of insect support.
Most people pass up on hickories because they take a long time to make nuts (20-40 years), but don’t get a hickory just for future food. While you are waiting, Hickory leaves provide food and habitat for literally thousands of different types of native insects. You landscape hickory will be a powerhouse of ecological support immediately from day one.
Additional pictures for help identifying this species vs Pignut, see https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=826
Carya ovalis
AKA - Red Hickory, Sweet Pignut Hickory
My favorite Hickory for local wildlife support. I saw this hickory one time in my local hikes and fell in love with it’s shaggy bark with thin dark plates. Some consider it a variety of Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra), while others separate it into it’s own species. I support the latter. Without even talking about it’s exquisite bark, the real difference is in the taste. The nuts are delicious and have none of the bitterness of standard pignut.
I really started to notice this tree one year I was collecting nuts as the squirrels were dropping them on top of my head. There was a feeding frenzy up in the canopy where they were stuffing their faces so fast that they dropped the fruits, sometimes whole, all over the area.
These trees make great winter interest as a landscape tree thanks to that beautiful bark, and as a hickory provide a really amazing amount of insect support.
Most people pass up on hickories because they take a long time to make nuts (20-40 years), but don’t get a hickory just for future food. While you are waiting, Hickory leaves provide food and habitat for literally thousands of different types of native insects. You landscape hickory will be a powerhouse of ecological support immediately from day one.
Additional pictures for help identifying this species vs Pignut, see https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=826
Carya ovalis
AKA - Red Hickory, Sweet Pignut Hickory
My favorite Hickory for local wildlife support. I saw this hickory one time in my local hikes and fell in love with it’s shaggy bark with thin dark plates. Some consider it a variety of Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra), while others separate it into it’s own species. I support the latter. Without even talking about it’s exquisite bark, the real difference is in the taste. The nuts are delicious and have none of the bitterness of standard pignut.
I really started to notice this tree one year I was collecting nuts as the squirrels were dropping them on top of my head. There was a feeding frenzy up in the canopy where they were stuffing their faces so fast that they dropped the fruits, sometimes whole, all over the area.
These trees make great winter interest as a landscape tree thanks to that beautiful bark, and as a hickory provide a really amazing amount of insect support.
Most people pass up on hickories because they take a long time to make nuts (20-40 years), but don’t get a hickory just for future food. While you are waiting, Hickory leaves provide food and habitat for literally thousands of different types of native insects. You landscape hickory will be a powerhouse of ecological support immediately from day one.
Additional pictures for help identifying this species vs Pignut, see https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=826
