Aesculus parviflora (Bottlebrush Buckeye)

One of the best summer-flowering shrubs for shade areas, multiple award-winner Aesculus parviflora (Bottlebrush Buckeye) is prized for its spectacular blooms of erect white flower panicles with red anthers and pinkish filaments. Blooming for weeks from early to mid-summer, the flowers are a real delight to hummingbirds and butterflies. They are held above the nicely contrasting foliage of palmate leaves which open bronze, and mature dark green before turning attractive shades of yellow in fall. The flowers are followed by tan-brown, pear-shaped fruits, 1-2 in. in length (2-5 cm) which are inedible and provide a little ornamental contribution to the plant. Winter hardy, this beautiful suckering, deciduous shrub is native to the rich woodland areas in Alabama, Georgia, and northern Florida.

• Recipient of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society, the Theodore Klein Plant Award (Kentucky), the GreatPlants award of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, and the Gold Medal of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
• Grows in a dense, mounded, multi-stemmed shrub up to 8-12ft. tall (240-360 cm) and spreads 8-15 ft. (250-450 cm).
• Thrives in average, medium, well-drained soils in full sun, part shade, or even full shade. Prefers rich, moist loams. Intolerant of dry soils, particularly in the early years before its root system becomes well established.
• Excellent background plant for shady and moist areas, ideal as a specimen plant in a lawn, for hedges and screens or planted in groups in shrub borders and woodland gardens.
• Easy to grow, thriving on neglect (no pruning required), and fairly pest-free. Bottlebrush Buckeye is also rabbit tolerant. Watch for canker, coral spot, and leaf spot that may be a problem
• Propagate from suckers.
• Toxic to dogs, toxic to cats, toxic to horses.