Bottlebrush Buckeye

Looking for a hardy shrub for the acreage-sized landscape?  Look no further than Aesculus parviflora, Bottlebrush Buckeye.  This tough performer, only damaged occasionally in droughty years by leaf scorch, grows well in full sun and partial shade.  It is well sited in the shrub border, in woodland gardens that receive a few hours of sun each day and as a feature plant in a specimen garden.

Bottlebrush buckeye is a large shrub, reaching 8-12 feet tall and 8 feet wide, perfect for the larger spaces on the acreage, such as screens, windbreaks and corner plantings.  It has multi-season interest, with wonderful, coarse-textured dark green compound leaves in spring and summer, striking long and fluffy white flower clusters in early summer and rich buttery yellow leaves in fall.

Perhaps one of the best ways to use bottlebrush buckeye is in the layered landscape.  The classic overall scenario is one where a deciduous shade tree serves as the overstory, bottlebrush buckeye/dogwood/viburnum are placed as understory shrubs and the appropriate shady/sunny perennials are massed between them to connect and tie the landscape together.