Junker1004 said:Obviously I'm a novice, but does this help you guys? Can I make it flower to help with ID or would that kill it?

Rodgersia aesculifolia - Pubescence: Underside of leaf and petiole is Pubescent;

Rodgersia aesculifolia var. henrici - Pubescent only on the veins

http://www.gardenmyths.com/rod...

Your photo shows the petiole is clearly pubescent. Is the underside of the leaf, or just the veins also pubescent?

Bear in mind that Rodgersia interbreeds so features may differ.

Here is a closeup of stem and leaf underside.

I blew the last shot up to 200% and took a snip shot of it.

I can definitely see pubescence on the veins!

Okay, I was wrong about Rogersia having alternate leaves. So the leaf arrangement is consistent with a Rogersia flowering stalk.

The site you posted (http://www.gardenmyths.com/rod...) states that Rogersia grows in rich moist soil. I am familiar with the holes in the sidewalk in which trees are planted; we have similar holes in Minneapolis. They are very dry, and typically have compacted soil. So the soil is not appropriate for Rogersia. And it is very rare for garden plants to be planted around the shade trees in holes in the pavement. The soil isn't good, as mentioned above, and people often walk right next to the tree, so the plants would be trampled. As for heat, the summer temperature is in the 80s F (27-32 C) in Minneapolis and Chicago, and summers are typically hotter in the city because of all the exposed pavement, often even under shade trees.

The seven leaflets would seem to indicate that if the plant is Aesculus, it has to be horsechestnut. However, the number of leaflets for Ohio buckeye is somewhat variable, and Illinois Wildflowers indicates that there can be 7 leaflets (http://www.illinoiswildflowers...).

I think we need to settle once and for all whether the sprouts come out of the tree or not. It's pretty clear to me that they do, but you have to dig the dirt from around the base of the sprouts to find out for sure.

So best guess is hybrid Rodgersia? Hope it roots! I put some rooting hormone and the plant is growing for now, at a very fast pace. There are white hairs near the new growth.

In terms of coming from the stump, the new growths are all around it. Someone is taking them though as one was missing and someone appears to have dug another.

If you can find out for sure where the growths are coming from then we can say whether or not they are coming from the tree stump.

If they are growing from seed, they should have a strong long tap root.

I can't say anything for sure until we know where the growths are coming from. Rodgersia isn't a tree.

Aesculus hippocastanum doesn't mention any pubescence on the underneath of the leaves. I might check mine tomorrow.

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dend...

Aesculus glabra does say 5-7 leaves on the Illinois site. It mentions:

the lower surface is pale green and usually hairless; sometimes there are tiny hairs along the lower ribs of the central veins.

I'm not sure what they mean by the "lower ribs of the central veins".

http://www.illinoiswildflowers...

On the Virgina Tech site it says for Aesculus glabra only 5 leaves with no mention of pubescence.

Leaf: Opposite, palmately compound with 5 leaflets, oval to obovate leaflets are 3 to 6 inches long with a serrated margin, rachis about as long as leaflets, dark green above and paler below. Strong fetid odor when crushed.

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dend...

Is such a "strong fetid odor" present when leaves are crushed?

Went and looked at it again, looks like it grows rapidly in just a few days there's been 5-6 inches of growth it looks like. Also new blooms coming out of dirt. Seems coming off old stump since they are all around it.

I wonder if the leaves look so droopy and curled around the edges due to their being young and in high temperatures.

Temp here is 50s today, been 40-60 except yesterday was briefly 80 F.

Not sure if the same is true in Chicago, but there hasn't been much rain here for more than a week and the soil is pretty dry.

It's been much the same here, around 10C (50F) or a little higher but the last few days have been warmer which is only because of the wind direction coming from the south (Spain) instead of the north (Arctic). Tomorrow should be 24C (75F) but it will drop to 12C (54F) by Friday.

In your last photo what you call a new bloom is a new leaf, it doesn't look at all like a horse chestnut new leaf. I'm going to say it again, that new leaf looks like a new Rodgersia leaf!

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

The location is so near a road junction I find it difficult to believe a tree which grows to a large size would be planted in such a place which is also too close to the road. That could be the reason it was chopped down, but a tree which behaves better would surely have been planted there, the two shown have small leaves. Aesculus grows not only very tall, it also grows very wide!

My tree which is well over a hundred years old, unfortunately the trunk is rotting now which might cause a big problem. This was over 10 years ago.

What a lovely garden you have!

The City of Chicago lists the Baumann Horse Chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum 'Baumannii' as one of the approved street trees.

It is approved to be grown in a sidewalk cutout...( I cannot imagine a 40 foot tall tree being very happy in such a confined space.) http://www.cityofchicago.org/c...

I see some similarity to Rogersia, but the leaves of the sprouting stump look diseased or unhappy (curled edges, chlorosis), so they can't be expected to resemble healthy horsechestnut leaves. As for the location, I guess someone just wasn't thinking straight. I very often see plants put in the wrong places.

I worked in landscape for the state for 20 years. They sent me to a class once. It was all for engineers that they were trying to get into Freeway planting mode. Those guys had NO interest in any landscape/ or irrigation. They spent most of the class out in the hall on their cell phones doing "important" stuff. I'm guessing cities have the same problems.

Janet poses a very good identification theory in the plant characteristics department, but Gabriel offers an equally compelling argument. Its clear that the stump was cut at least several years ago, and I can't imagine how any moisture loving (and compact, poor soil hating) Rogersia or relative could survive so well as to produce such vigorous shoots (and not even taking into consideration the cold hardiness factor). We in the Midwest USA (Chicago being in the center) have much hotter, sunnier and drier summers than anywhere in the UK.

I have a question for those who know Rogersia (and relatives):
Do all leaves arise from elongated stems, or is it only the flowering stems?

If it is just the flowering stems, then it would be impossible for such a Rogersia type plant to flourish so well as to produce only flowering stems in such an adverse environment, year after year.

Yes Carol, I'm very lucky! Apart from some trees and narrow borders with Rhododendrons it was all old meadow grass full of moss when we moved in.

greene, I'm surprised they use such a large tree for sidewalks! I'm not sure how they cut them out, and surprised that they do as it can set in rot. They have to be pruned when in full growth or they will bleed. Our tree had a low branch cut off about 5 feet from the trunk, it was obviously very old and thick but some rot was appearing at the end. If you don't cut them back to near the trunk this can happen, so we cut it back properly with only a small amount of rot showing. When cutting through the branch we hit a very old large iron meat hook in the middle, the branch had completely grown around it! Fifteen or so years later the rot has really set in, the tree had tried to make a seal around the cut but now there's a huge chunk rotted out down the trunk to the ground. Other parts of the trunk are rotting too with sap oozing out of some places. If it decides to fall over we are in trouble if it hits the house! This tree must be 50 feet tall at least, and nearly as wide. The trunk measured 10 feet in circumference some years ago. The soil is sandy and often quite dry, roots grow beyond the width of the canopy and grow near to the surface so they would make a mess of a bitumen road besides the masses of large leaves which drop.

‘Baumannii’ - 70 feet tall, oval, pH-adapted, has double flowers, grows slower and does not produce any nuts

http://hort.ufl.edu/database/d...

It's the upward pointing new leaves which are wrong for horse chestnut, they open in a downward parasol shape from a fat bud. I can't imagine shoots growing from under the ground, I found 'Baumannii' doesn't make conkers so it might behave differently.

Rick, Rodgersia aesculifolia is hardy in zone 3-9. A dead stump should hold water beneath it acting much like a stone.

http://www.perennials.com/plan...

I can't answer your question as mine has never flowered, it gets dappled shade and is in a moisture retaining place. It hasn't shown yet, it always seems to be late but I have a photo of a fairly new leaf from late May.

Sidewalk Cut-out
A sidewalk cut-out refers to an opening in a sidewalk completely surrounded by concrete or
pavers.

http://elansing.net/pinecrest/...

Simple!

Hmm, I looked at some pictures, and they don't seem to show horsechestnut leaves as being in an umbrella shape in the bud: rather the leaflets point upwards (like an umbrella blown by the wind). Presumably the leaflets later flop downwards as they unfurl.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/...

Has anyone compared it to the hybrid Aesculus x carnea cultivars?
They are A. hippocastanum x A. pavia crosses. They can have 5-7 leaflets. The are also used as street trees.

I have no experience with Aesculus x carnea but I have Aesculus pavia. In Aesculus pavia, the new leaves emerge in an upright position right before drooping. They also keep that "droopy and curled around the edges" look for a while. A. pavia has 5 leaflets though, so that's why I wondered about the hybrids which might combine some of the characteristics of both parents.

Here is my Aesculus pavia still sporting its "droopy and curled" look.