David: Hold onto a few horse chestnuts. This old buckeye would love to challenge you to a game of "Conkers." https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Conkers/ It's a bit like marbles-using a horse chestnut suspened on a string to strike and destroy your opponent's conker. It always seemed a fine and simple game, with winner gaining bragging rights of calling their hard nut a "oner" "two-er" etc as victories accumulate.
It’s an interesting tree and beautiful and I appreciate the anecdotes! I think, however, that we should avoid planting horse chestnuts and might even show some enthusiasm for removing them. Horse chestnut, being a “King County Weed of Concern, is in a category described as follows: “These species often impact and degrade native plant and animal habitat. Control is recommended where possible and new plantings are discouraged.” To wit, 96% of the beautiful and interesting terrestrial birds of North America feed only insects to their young and our local insects have co-evolved with and only lay their eggs on native plants. For every piece of “real estate” that we cover with a nonnative plant, we are emptying some of the shelves in the pantry of the insects needed for nestlings. We can feed adults seeds and berries to our, and their, hearts content, but the nestlings will not be fed without the native plants and the insects. The native trees are, of course, the biggest sources of insects. Oaks are keystone species, supporting hundreds of insect species and producing those all important larvae/caterpillars, a nestling’s version of a baby bottle. And it takes many thousands from hatch to near adult size in two weeks! The oak’s got to be native though, and around here that would only, and just barely, be a Garry oak. I recommend entomologist Doug Tallamy’s books Nature’s Best Hope and The Nature of Oaks to learn more. By the way, there are horse chestnuts popping up in natural areas near my home, so they are spreading.
Thanks for your note. I completely agree that we need more Garry oaks, one of the most beautiful native trees, and one with an edible nut, not just one you can put in your breeches! And, I agree that we shouldn't be planting more of horse chestnuts. I didn't mean to imply that we should.
Ever wonder why horse chestnut inflorescences have hundreds of blooms but only produce 2-3 nuts per inflorescence? The pollen is supposed to be toxic in large amounts to bees. Ah! What a smart tree! And smart bees too! If all the blossoms were pollinated the resulting nut clusters would be so heavy as to bend and possibly break the branch. Or so I recall being told by my plant tax TA when contemplating the native western North American horse chestnut.
Perfect timing because last night I gathered a few horse chestnuts, put them in my breeches (OK, pockets) then made a fall display in my house. I feel weird when I gather the nuts. But your post makes me feel "normalish".
David, with respect we do not need more horse chestnuts in Seattle. This is a dense, messy tree that is impossible to garden under and can fail spectacularly. Aesculus hippocastanum along with all maples has been moved by taxonomists into the Soapberry family, Sapindaceae. As a practical matter this makes sense as the caustic saponins contained in horse chestnuts can produce a frothy cleaning solution. Do not eat horse chestnuts. What we need are American chestnuts, which as you have written were wiped out by chestnut blight, but plant scientists in NY are now trialing a genetic modified Castanea dentata which has genetic material from wheat to neutralize the oxalic acid from the fungus. These trees may allow repopulation of this incredibly important native tree (in the Eastern US). What we really need in Seattle, where one can grow near anything, is more OAKS. We only have our sorta native Garry oak, Quercus garryana, a lovely white oak. Oaks grow well here, last a long time (which is how one gets magnificent trees) and have important environment attributes, including supporting an incredible number of insect life cycles which in turn provide food for birds. There are an endless number of excellent oak selections, including an increasing number of hybrid oaks some of which, like Gamble oak hybrids, are sized for urban gardens. Full disclosure: I do grow a horse chestnut: Aesculus hippocastanum 'Wisselink.' Found as a chance seedling by the eponymous Mr. Wisselink in the Netherlands, it has an ethereal appearance in spring, just too good to pass up!
Bruce, You are absolutely right that we need more Garry oaks in Seattle, even though it was not ever very good habitat for them, except in the few open spaces, perhaps the areas burned by Indigenous people to keep the space open for oaks and camas. David
As the one who has to cleanup after two old horse chestnut trees, I would discourage planting them in a yard near the house or driveway. This said, there is no doubt that they are an absolute show stopper when in full bloom! Over the years several people have come to my door and asked about them. But, the clean-up is endless, year around. The chestnuts often will spout if left on the lawn. And though they are food for the squirrels, they sometimes are planting as many as they eat! In the spring they drop a sticky outer bracket that attaches itself to everything. In the fall I get my exercise raking the leaves and fallen chestnuts for about 2 months. This is not an entirely bad thing, weather permitting, as I love the fall. The leaves sans the nuts make a good flowerbed cover for the winter. I want to add that it is rather magical when these trees come into bloom in the spring. The candelabra like growth is rapid and a daily show for abut a week. Perhaps my favorite thing about them.
Growing up in England I was frequently playing "conkers". Every little boy I knew feverishly hunting on the ground beneath the tree for the perfect conker and if unable to find one throwing sticks up into the tree to dislodge a hopeful winner.
After moving to Bellevue in the mid 90's I collected a seed and planted it in my backyard, it's now about 25 feet tall and the resident squirrel is working hard to seemingly cache every last conker for the upcoming winter.
Two additional reasons I find horse chestnuts particularly delightful, my appreciative orientation being that of one tasked with teaching natural history to wee (and not so wee) ones are that 1) they bear an excellent and reliable example of palmately compound leaves and 2) the “runways” inside the corolla of their flowers changes color from yellow to orange to pink or red as the pollen matures. I'm thinking that because bees, a major group of Aesculus pollinators, can see yellow and orange but not, I think, red, they attend to their inadvertent pollination tasks at the time most optimal for the tree.
Thanks David. True, you didn't encourage to plant horse chestnuts. I do think that considerable downsides should be noted when the topic is praise for a nonnative, invasive tree and states that the horse chestnut is "splendid urban tree" and points out its benefits, "including cleaning the air and providing habitat for our winged, furred, and multi-legged neighbors". What do you think about the food web aspects of our nonnative trees? John Marzluff's excellent book Subirdia is another great reference regarding the rich ecosystem opportunities in our urban and, particularly, suburban neighborhoods.
As an old Ohio Buckeye myself, I’ve always loved these trees and especially the nuts, though I’ve never played Conkers or stuff them in my pockets to help rheumatism. But my pockets were nonetheless often full of buckeyes. Such a beautiful and interesting looking nut! To this day I’ll still bring them home. With enough of them, they make acceptable poker chips. But keep them away from your grandsons!
David: Hold onto a few horse chestnuts. This old buckeye would love to challenge you to a game of "Conkers." https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Conkers/ It's a bit like marbles-using a horse chestnut suspened on a string to strike and destroy your opponent's conker. It always seemed a fine and simple game, with winner gaining bragging rights of calling their hard nut a "oner" "two-er" etc as victories accumulate.
Perhaps you would enjoy this memory of Jeffrey Streeter of his enjoying Conkers.
https://jeffstreeter.substack.com/p/the-conker-tree
Will do. I'd love to play.
The show As It Happens on CBC (https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens) just had a segment on the World Conker Championships held recently.
It’s an interesting tree and beautiful and I appreciate the anecdotes! I think, however, that we should avoid planting horse chestnuts and might even show some enthusiasm for removing them. Horse chestnut, being a “King County Weed of Concern, is in a category described as follows: “These species often impact and degrade native plant and animal habitat. Control is recommended where possible and new plantings are discouraged.” To wit, 96% of the beautiful and interesting terrestrial birds of North America feed only insects to their young and our local insects have co-evolved with and only lay their eggs on native plants. For every piece of “real estate” that we cover with a nonnative plant, we are emptying some of the shelves in the pantry of the insects needed for nestlings. We can feed adults seeds and berries to our, and their, hearts content, but the nestlings will not be fed without the native plants and the insects. The native trees are, of course, the biggest sources of insects. Oaks are keystone species, supporting hundreds of insect species and producing those all important larvae/caterpillars, a nestling’s version of a baby bottle. And it takes many thousands from hatch to near adult size in two weeks! The oak’s got to be native though, and around here that would only, and just barely, be a Garry oak. I recommend entomologist Doug Tallamy’s books Nature’s Best Hope and The Nature of Oaks to learn more. By the way, there are horse chestnuts popping up in natural areas near my home, so they are spreading.
Thanks for your note. I completely agree that we need more Garry oaks, one of the most beautiful native trees, and one with an edible nut, not just one you can put in your breeches! And, I agree that we shouldn't be planting more of horse chestnuts. I didn't mean to imply that we should.
Fantastic! Nut trees are fascinating - Another favorite is the black walnut. You can make ink from the husks. Some day - I might try making some....
That'd be cool...to have home made ink.
Ever wonder why horse chestnut inflorescences have hundreds of blooms but only produce 2-3 nuts per inflorescence? The pollen is supposed to be toxic in large amounts to bees. Ah! What a smart tree! And smart bees too! If all the blossoms were pollinated the resulting nut clusters would be so heavy as to bend and possibly break the branch. Or so I recall being told by my plant tax TA when contemplating the native western North American horse chestnut.
Thanks for sharing. What is a large amount of pollen to a bee?
Perfect timing because last night I gathered a few horse chestnuts, put them in my breeches (OK, pockets) then made a fall display in my house. I feel weird when I gather the nuts. But your post makes me feel "normalish".
Breeches!!!!
David, with respect we do not need more horse chestnuts in Seattle. This is a dense, messy tree that is impossible to garden under and can fail spectacularly. Aesculus hippocastanum along with all maples has been moved by taxonomists into the Soapberry family, Sapindaceae. As a practical matter this makes sense as the caustic saponins contained in horse chestnuts can produce a frothy cleaning solution. Do not eat horse chestnuts. What we need are American chestnuts, which as you have written were wiped out by chestnut blight, but plant scientists in NY are now trialing a genetic modified Castanea dentata which has genetic material from wheat to neutralize the oxalic acid from the fungus. These trees may allow repopulation of this incredibly important native tree (in the Eastern US). What we really need in Seattle, where one can grow near anything, is more OAKS. We only have our sorta native Garry oak, Quercus garryana, a lovely white oak. Oaks grow well here, last a long time (which is how one gets magnificent trees) and have important environment attributes, including supporting an incredible number of insect life cycles which in turn provide food for birds. There are an endless number of excellent oak selections, including an increasing number of hybrid oaks some of which, like Gamble oak hybrids, are sized for urban gardens. Full disclosure: I do grow a horse chestnut: Aesculus hippocastanum 'Wisselink.' Found as a chance seedling by the eponymous Mr. Wisselink in the Netherlands, it has an ethereal appearance in spring, just too good to pass up!
Bruce, You are absolutely right that we need more Garry oaks in Seattle, even though it was not ever very good habitat for them, except in the few open spaces, perhaps the areas burned by Indigenous people to keep the space open for oaks and camas. David
As the one who has to cleanup after two old horse chestnut trees, I would discourage planting them in a yard near the house or driveway. This said, there is no doubt that they are an absolute show stopper when in full bloom! Over the years several people have come to my door and asked about them. But, the clean-up is endless, year around. The chestnuts often will spout if left on the lawn. And though they are food for the squirrels, they sometimes are planting as many as they eat! In the spring they drop a sticky outer bracket that attaches itself to everything. In the fall I get my exercise raking the leaves and fallen chestnuts for about 2 months. This is not an entirely bad thing, weather permitting, as I love the fall. The leaves sans the nuts make a good flowerbed cover for the winter. I want to add that it is rather magical when these trees come into bloom in the spring. The candelabra like growth is rapid and a daily show for abut a week. Perhaps my favorite thing about them.
I presume the local "Horse" chestnuts are not the "Roasting o'er an open fire" variety, ergo non edible by humans. Is that correct?
Correct. These are not the edible nuts so famous for their roasting desirability. Do not eat them.
Speaking of Conkers…
https://apple.news/AdniM_Z3UQvaolxPC0cgCyw
I was given a "pocket chestnut" just the other day. Thanks for enlightening me on why!
Loved the article.
Growing up in England I was frequently playing "conkers". Every little boy I knew feverishly hunting on the ground beneath the tree for the perfect conker and if unable to find one throwing sticks up into the tree to dislodge a hopeful winner.
After moving to Bellevue in the mid 90's I collected a seed and planted it in my backyard, it's now about 25 feet tall and the resident squirrel is working hard to seemingly cache every last conker for the upcoming winter.
Two additional reasons I find horse chestnuts particularly delightful, my appreciative orientation being that of one tasked with teaching natural history to wee (and not so wee) ones are that 1) they bear an excellent and reliable example of palmately compound leaves and 2) the “runways” inside the corolla of their flowers changes color from yellow to orange to pink or red as the pollen matures. I'm thinking that because bees, a major group of Aesculus pollinators, can see yellow and orange but not, I think, red, they attend to their inadvertent pollination tasks at the time most optimal for the tree.
Thanks David. True, you didn't encourage to plant horse chestnuts. I do think that considerable downsides should be noted when the topic is praise for a nonnative, invasive tree and states that the horse chestnut is "splendid urban tree" and points out its benefits, "including cleaning the air and providing habitat for our winged, furred, and multi-legged neighbors". What do you think about the food web aspects of our nonnative trees? John Marzluff's excellent book Subirdia is another great reference regarding the rich ecosystem opportunities in our urban and, particularly, suburban neighborhoods.
As an old Ohio Buckeye myself, I’ve always loved these trees and especially the nuts, though I’ve never played Conkers or stuff them in my pockets to help rheumatism. But my pockets were nonetheless often full of buckeyes. Such a beautiful and interesting looking nut! To this day I’ll still bring them home. With enough of them, they make acceptable poker chips. But keep them away from your grandsons!