PlantFiles: Red Horsechestnut, Red Horse Chestnut, Bottlebrush Buckeye
Aesculus x carnea 'Briotti'

This plant has proven quite tough even as it was in constantly wet soil for a couple months followed by completely dry soil for a couple months after its planting. Here in central Illinois it tends to flower starting in late April through mid to late May. I would expect a good three to four weeks of flowers from this tree depending upon the weather. We had a light freeze in late April and it didnt affect the flowers or foliage a bit. Come summer there is a bit of leaf browning from disease but it doesnt become a significantly noticable problem. Briotti provides a truly rare flower color for a tree growing in a temperate climate, and makes an excellent shade tree when its gotten to a more mature size. A foot of growth is considered good for one year. *UPDATE 4-5-07* We are experiencing lows around 20 for nearly a week, after nearly a month of lows above 45 degrees. We didnt experience any frost this week but the really cold temperatures did completely wilt and shrivel the new growth of the past month, including the flowers. I does somehow appear that maybe 6 flowers somehow survived the extreme temperatures. Its been a very dissapointing spring. I was going to have probably 20-25 flowers on it this year.