About Our Name

Carya is  the name of the scientific genus of  “hickory,” a handsome, columnar, dark green, native Connecticut tree, with golden fall foliage.  Our logo is a hickory nut, starting to split open.   This tree was chosen as the symbol of the company for several reasons.

Hickory wood is unsually flexible and resilient, used for handles of hammers… and for the switches of past schoolrooms.  Due to deep taproots. flexible wood, and narrow shape it is able to thrive as close as 6 feet from buildings without risk of future roof damage.    Hickory has delicious nuts, tasty to the human palate but also for wildlife and weevils.  Its leaves and bark provide food and shelter for many invertebrates – especially shagbark hickory (Carya ovata). Butterfly cocoons overwinter under the loose bark.

Carya symbolizes our flexibility and capacity for creative solutions  and also our commitment to ecological landscaping:  “Instead of large sterile lawns or exotic ornamental trees, plant vegetation with wildlife value – and beauty – near human dwellings.”

Pignut hickory in mid fall  ( Carya glabra)