Aesculus indica

We are indebted to Henry Girling who very kindly gave us seed from the clonal selection Sydney Pearce from his garden to grow on. A majestic tall tree well suited to parkland and large estates which has a rounded habit. It bears pyramidal panicles of pink flushed flowers in summer while its foliage is bronze when young turning glossy and dark green before changing to orange and yellow in autumn.

It tolerates chalky soils well. There has been increase incidence of what was thought to be Phytophthora bleeding canker on Horse Chestnuts especially in the South East and Midlands of England. Research is ongoing but it is now believed the cause is a bacterium rather than a fungus but feedback from arborists is suggesting Aesculus indica has immunity from the infection. However it is not a common tree so the jury is out on this one.

Its deeply cut leaves make it the prettiest of the Chestnut family but annoyingly it sometimes sets flower on the terminal growing bud making it difficult to grow straight. However this is our problem to resolve not yours!

Mature height: 17-22m