Keep Your Eye on Red Buckeye

Spring blooming Red buckeye

Red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) is a large shrub or low branched tree maturing to a 15 - 20 feet in height and spread. This southeastern U. S. native is becoming more recognized as a good selection in small urban landscapes.

The red buckeye tree flowers young, either in full or partial sun. Numerous 5- to 9- inch long floral heads sit at the ends of branches like decorative candles in late April and May. Flowers open just before the leaves begin to emerge. Flower color on individual trees varies from dark pink to scarlet red. A yellow flowering form is known to exist. Hummingbirds arrive to pollinate the individual funnel-shaped blossoms.

Lovely dark green, palmate compound leaves clothe the branches in the spring and early summer months. The polished dark buckeye seeds fall from the tree beginning in late September, quickly grabbed up by squirrels and others. Seeds are poisonous.

Disease and insect problems are of little consequence in the spring and early summer months. Disease blotched foliage that may also be scorched on the edges, the result of dry summers, results in a premature leaf drop by late August and September. Expect little to no autumn foliage color as branches are typically bare.

Franklinia - Native Tree Lost in the Wild

Franklinia (Franklinia alatamaha) is a wonderful small tree or large multi-trunked shrub with fragrant white camellia- like flowers. Franklinia is related to world-class flowering shrubs like camellia and stewartia. Its white 3 - 3 ½ inch camellia-like flowers appear from early August thru late September.

Franklinia is winter hardy in the Southern Appalachian region (USDA zones 6-7). Its fibrous root system prefers a well-drained, richly organic, and acidic soil much like azaleas and rhododendrons. Don’t subject to extended summer droughts or frigid drying winter winds.

Fall color is respectable with autumnal hues of red, orange and burgundy. The bark on a young tree is distinctively striped, and the main branches become fissured with age.

The species was discovered by plant explorer John Bartram and his son William growing along the Alatamaha River in southeastern Georgia in 1765. Natural populations are now extinct. All franklinia trees growing today are descendants of the Bartrams’ collected seeds.

Franklinia is a finicky grower, but very much worth the challenge. A deadly fungal root disease, Phytophthora cinnamoni, may have led to its demise in nature, is its Achilles’ heel. A 2-3 week long invasion of Japanese beetles in August may shorten individual bloom life by half.

Keep Your Eye on Red Buckeye

Red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) is the perfect small tree for an urban landscape. This native tree/large shrub flowers young in a full or part sun location. Numerous 5- to 9- inch long flower panicles are positioned on the tips of branches as decorative red candles in late April and May here in the southern Appalachian region (zones 6 thru 8).

Flowers open just before or after the leaves begin to emerge. Flower color on individual trees may vary from dark pink to scarlet red. Most trees are at their showiest in late April and early May. Hummingbirds arrive to pollinate the 1 ½ inch tubular blooms.

Lustrous palmately compound leaves dress the branches in rich green over the spring and early summer months. Disease and insect problems prove of little consequence, except that the greenery becomes scorched and spotted by late summer. Leaves drop prematurely in September, far ahead of other landscape trees.