I planted it in the narrow border next to the gravel garden at the curve of the walk. Lower branches will need to be pruned up when it gets bigger in order to walk under it along the path.
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| 9/16/12 newly planted |
Red buckeye can be a challenge to grow in just the right spot. It needs afternoon shade, and even with that the big leaves can scorch in summer, and they drop completely in September. So it is not a tree for fall interest. Its beauty is in spring.
Like its cousins the bottlebrush buckeye shrubs, this buckeye tree really doesn't like any kind of drought. It needs deep watering in dry spells.
And here's an interesting fact: the seeds and young twigs are poisonous to humans and wildlife. Native Americans crushed them up and put them in water to stupefy fish to make them easier to catch.
I first saw Aesculus pavia in spring, at its best. Here's the one we saw on a garden tour in mid May, and it was beautifully set off by a big red barn.
Here is a good article on growing Aesculus pavia, which mentions that it does drop leaves early in fall, and that it wants afternoon shade in summer. Where mine is planted it gets deep morning shade from the house, but full sun after noontime. Not the best location.
In 2013 it was still a shaggy little thing, but it flowered.
The leaves are crisply pleated and the flower spikes are a nice deep red.
Leaves drop very early, by October 1 this little tree is denuded. It doesn't add any interest in fall since it drops leaves so early, but it is a striking tree in spring and summer.
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| 5/12/12 on a garden tour in Amenia, NY |
Here is a good article on growing Aesculus pavia, which mentions that it does drop leaves early in fall, and that it wants afternoon shade in summer. Where mine is planted it gets deep morning shade from the house, but full sun after noontime. Not the best location.
In 2013 it was still a shaggy little thing, but it flowered.
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| 5/21/13 with big red spikes but spindly branches |
The leaves are crisply pleated and the flower spikes are a nice deep red.
Leaves drop very early, by October 1 this little tree is denuded. It doesn't add any interest in fall since it drops leaves so early, but it is a striking tree in spring and summer.
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| 6/1/14, blooming |
It has reddish leaves when they first emerge in spring.
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| 5/8/15 |
And then in summer the big leaves give even this tiny tree a nice full look. There was one, and only one, firecracker blossom in 2015. The rest must have been zapped by the harsh winter.
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| 5/24/15 |
Still green and leafy in mid September of 2015, but by October 1 the leaves had all dropped.
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| 9/14/15 |
