1999 Theodore Klein Plant Award Winner

Aesculus parviflora - Bottlebrush Buckeye is a beautiful plant that unlike many Aesculus maintains good foliage all season long. It is a slow growing multistemmed shrub, 8-10 feet high by 10-15 feet wide with beautiful flower spikes in June. It performs well in sun and shade. The fall color is an attractive mix of yellow and green (it was the cover photo for Mike Dirr's 1990, 4th edition of THE Manual of Woody Landscape Plants). One of the most famous stands of Bottlebrush Buckeye is the mass planting in full sun at Bernheim Arboretum (see below). Many plants are found growing in full sun including a nice planting at the Kentucky State Fairgrounds. Individual plants can be viewed at the UKREC planting and at the UK Arboretum. A very nice shade planting can be viewed at the Missouri Botanic Garden, St. Louis, MO. Bottlebrush buckeye is propagated by seed. The seed is collected just as the covering starts to crack (in west KY that is late September) and planted immediately. Cutting propagation from roots in the winter or softwood shoots has been successful.

Flower spikes as they appear just before bloom at Bernheim Arboretum