White Ash

Fraxinus americana

tree

White ash (Fraxinus americana) is a large, fast native shade tree, 60 to 90 ft, with a straight trunk, compound leaves that turn striking shades of yellow and deep purple in fall, and tough, elastic wood long used for tool handles and baseball bats. Its bark also had traditional uses. It is a fine, adaptable landscape and timber tree - but it now carries a heavy warning: the invasive emerald ash borer has killed ash by the millions across North America, and planting new ash is generally no longer recommended without a plan to protect the tree. It is included here for completeness and for those harvesting from existing, established trees.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Comfrey — A nutrient accumulator for a mulch ring beneath an established tree
• Clover — A nitrogen-fixing groundcover for the open ground around the trunk
• Yarrow — Draws beneficial insects and tolerates the light shade at the canopy edge

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Emerald ash borer →

  The critical threat - do not plant new ash in EAB areas; protect valued existing trees with professional systemic treatment and watch for canopy dieback and D-shaped exit holes

• Ash/lilac borers →

  Bore stressed trunks; keep trees vigorous and avoid wounds

• Verticillium wilt →

  A soil fungus that wilts branches; prune out dead wood and keep the tree unstressed

🌾 Harvest & storage

Harvest the bark in spring when it lifts most easily, taking it only from branches removed in pruning on a healthy, established tree, never by ringing the trunk. Peel and dry the inner bark thoroughly for use. Given the emerald ash borer crisis, treat any existing ash as a tree to protect and harvest sparingly from prunings, rather than as one to plant anew.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

White ash is not a food plant; the wood is famously tough and elastic, and its bark had traditional uses. Its garden story today is mostly cautionary: the emerald ash borer has made ash a tree to protect and monitor rather than plant freely, so harvest only from established, healthy trees and only from prunings.