Description
Description: Aesculus forms a shrub that will grow up to 12 feet in height with a slightly larger spread. It suckers from the base; therefore, it can form a large multi-stemmed shrub useful in massing, although it can also be used as a focal point. The leaves are dark green in the summer and have good fall color. It is a somewhat coarse shrub, but its glossy leaf and dark green foliage give it a finer appearance than its relative, the common horse chestnut tree, and it doesn’t seem to get the diseases that afflict our horse chestnut.
The flowers are said to be truly spectacular – panicles up to a foot long covered with white flowers, including red anthers, make this one of the most spectacular summer flowering shrubs available to us. Although this species is native to our southern states, it appears to be plenty hardy for northern climates.