I'd try both and see what happens. :)

Agreed!

And always start more seeds than you need in case some fail.

I have seen shagbark hickory as listed as both zone 3 and 4. according to my research; it is the hardiest of all hickories. true?

Isn’t shagbark hickory a much nicer tree than bitternut

Shagbark is going to be very slow, especially the first several years. Cucumber magnolia is considerably faster, but probably more finicky to cultural conditions. How patient are you and which one will do best in your conditions?

Lane,

You may have seen this before and I didn't have time to go through it all, but this is a planting recommendation manual for trees and shrubs of Wyoming. It has a lot of plant information in there and thought you might be interested.

https://www.uwyo.edu/barnbackyard/wy_tree_shrub_guide.pdf

Thanks, bill. kinda a weird resource. they should have consulted me - i could have helped them lol. some info is just wrong, like drought resistance infono, mature heights, and growth rates, and for example it says that many things eat buckeye nuts, but as far as I know it‘s literally just one animal- the squirrel. and why did they leave off so many species? all they had to do was walk around campus…

and yeah, this will just be a fun experiment . If I absolutely needed a tree, I would choose one that I know 100% would work here. I have better knowledge of this than almost anyone. ppl should ask me what will grow in WY

Oh, I agree 100%, LC.

I'm growing trees that have a native range, hundreds of miles south of me. Gleditsia triacanthos is one of them. And it's not a fluke, they're growing all over town here.

I believe much information gathered about growing trees can be looked at as flawed simply because there are so many variables, microclimates and soil conditions, and the test specimens never get tested completely under all possible conditions.

Example, planting a tree that gets extremely harsh winters in its first couple of years and dies maybe considered un-hardy, while the same tree, in a sheltered location, may survive long enough to establish a more mature root system and then do fine afterwards.

We've seen plenty of reports from people that have this happen and are growing trees that normally don't grow well in their area.

The warming climate most likely has an effect on this also not to mention typos and other mistakes made upon publishing the documents.

PS: A tree can be listed as 'drought hardy' but if not watered regularly when just a seedling, can die bc the root system isn't developed well enough to be that yet.

Anyway. I’ve become obsessed with shag bark hickory. Think I will definitely try one of those!

Shagbark has a big range.

'I’ve become obsessed with shag bark hickory. Think I will definitely try one of those!'

You're not the first person around here to try different plants.

And probably not the last. 😏

I can find seeds sourced from Iowa (not sure where) and close to Binghamton , NY. Seems that anywhere in iowa is colder than that area of NY. so Iowa it is

Plant them where you want them, as hickories are not easy to transplant because of the tap root (tho I've done it successfully).