Whoever named the bottlebrush buckeye hit the nail squarely on the head, for the plant’s showy flower clusters look like the tapering brushes used for washing bottles.
Aesculus parviflora has other distinctions to recommend it, too—interesting foliage and habit of growth.
Bottlebrush Buckeye Features
In early summer, graceful and elegant flowers appear in slender panicles of 8” to 16” inches. Adding to the loveliness of the individual white flowers are long, protruding pink stamens.
The leaves are large, compound, and digitate. Each leaf is composed of five to seven leaflets, which radiate from a common point at the terminal end of the petiole.
From mid-spring to early fall, the leaflets are bright glossy green, grayish green underneath. Following leaf fall, the yellow-brown to orange-brown twigs make a picturesque spectacle on the winter landscape.
Bottlebrush Buckeye’s Growing Habits
The bottlebrush buckeye is a low, broad, and highly branched shrub. Frequently, it spreads by prostrate branches, which develop into large clumps.
With an ultimate height of 5’ to 12’ feet and a spread sometimes even greater than its height, it is particularly good for specimen planting, for solitary clumps on lawns, and borders of large shrubs.
Even though its native range is among the Southeastern states, it does well as far north as New England when grown in sheltered areas.
Unbothered With Insect and Disease
The plant is not bothered much by either insects or disease. And although it grows best in loamy, moist soil in sunny locations, it can withstand relatively dry conditions and a reasonable amount of shade.
44659 by Bernard Bridgers