PlantFiles: Ohio Buckeye
Aesculus glabra

A very hardy, unique tree that may be hardy up to zone 2a. It is abundant in Edmonton zone 3b and provides wonderful fiery fall color.

While this is a fun tree to include in naturalistic, wooded settings, as a yard shade tree it compares poorly with many, many better trees.

Buckeyes are one of the first trees to emerge in the spring, and their emerging leaves provide much appreciated green at that time of year. In the fall, their "buckeye" fruits are fun and oddly ornamental. But a variety of foliar diseases beset the Ohio Buckeye, and by mid to late summer, most Ohio Buckeyes are either covered in badly scorched foliage, or have no foliage at all. This is a very important consideration for anyone wishing to plant A. glabra or A. hippocastenum. Note: the similar Aesculus flava (syn. A. octandra), has all the attributes of every other buckeye, but usually does not suffer foliar diseases. This is the buckeye to get for yard purposes.

One upside to any species of buckeye is that deer leave them alone.

This buckeye was growing on the grounds of the business where I work in Marion, IN. Whoever planted this property loved trees, because there are some unusual varieties in this land of maples, maples, maples. The tree was in a lawn and had forsythia hedge on both sides of it. It was beautiful. I didn't know at first what kind of tree it was, but when I went up to it and saw the nuts, I said, "Why, that's a buckeye! What's it doing here in Indiana?"

I didn't see anyone water or feed it and it's nowhere near a water source, but it did well.

However, the utility company has just cut down this lovely mature specimen that had buckeyes on it, the brutes!

What we want to know is whether in September the nuts are mature enough to plant, and do we hull them first or plant them hull and all?

In the meantime, I have one in my pocket to combat arthritis.

Thanks

I have an Ohio Buckeye planted in my yard that was transplanted as a 1 year old seedling from my Mom's garden. It is now about 10 years old. Mom has had a Buckeye tree for 20 + years. Mine gave me my first buckeye last fall. This year it has aprox. 2 dozen seed pods on it's branch tips. I have not found it hard to grow this type of tree. I have it's offspring growing in a clay pot on my deck and it will be transplanted into the ground this fall near it's older relative.

I water it occasionally, especially during our hot Ohio summers. It is planted in southern Ohio clay soil, which is very hard, but I do place leaf compost around the base every year. My tree is about 15 feet tall and it's branches grow about 12-15" each year. As an avid Ohio State fan, I cherish my Buckeye tree greatly.

GO BUCKS!!!

Much as this is a very symbolic plant in (particularly central) Ohio, it has a very specific culture, and is not impressively adabtable to backyard growing. It tends to be found along creek beds much like willows (though it does not have the invasive roots of willows), and seldom thrives elsewhere.

If you are looking for something which looks similar, but will actually grow in your ohio yard, the bottebrush buckeye is much more easy going, with the same characteristic flowers and leaves, but in a shrub shape, with much smaller seeds.

My Buckeye Tree is nine years old and has yet to flower in the spring, or of course, produce buckeyes.