Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora)

Bottlebrush Buckeye is a large suckering shrub native to moist woodlands of the southeastern coastal plain. In cultivation, given average to moist soil and full sun to part shade, Bottlebrush Buckeye forms a handsome dense suckering shrub colony approximately 10 feet by 10 feet. The flower display is outstanding and fall color is often a good yellow. Give this shrub plenty of room as a specimen planting or locate it at a moist wood's edge. When grown in more shade, it will tend to be open and wispy with much less flowering (but still attractive). (Sunlight Gardens)

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Honey bees get nectar and pollen from this plant.

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The Bottlebrush Buckeye was found in the 1800's to have a small native range in about half of Alabama with edges into Georgia and northwest Florida, growing in wet mesic to dry mesic lowlands or uplands in or around woods. Its large palmate leaves have 5 to 7 leaflets that turn a good yellow to yellow-orange autumn color. The large, erect, candle-like, white flower spikes are about 6 to 12 inches long and have a slightly perfumed scent. It has handsome stout smooth gray to gray brown twigs and branches that are like the Pagoda Dogwood in an arrangement of a wishbone and roller coaster pattern, looking good in winter. It is slow growing of about 1 foot/year. It has a fibrous but deep descending root system, so it is difficult to transplant. It is an expensive plant that is not well-known by the general public so I infrequently see it at arboretums, estates, parks, and professional landscapes, and furthermore, it needs lots of room to fully spread out which is 12 to 20 feet. It is sold at larger, diverse nurseries and native plant nurseries. It is an excellent, high quality, clean, neat shrub.

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Bottlebrush buckeye grows well in my zone 7 garden in sandy loam soil. It is a large-scale specimen, needing to spread its branches to show off the big compound leaves and long bloom spikes. It has made several low branches that can be rooted by weighting with a brick. As for the 'showy' fruit, the developing nuts are novel, rather than 'pretty,' the ripe nuts, while not edible for humans, are pretty.

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