Bottlebrush Buckeye
Aesculus parviflora
A native shrub with spectacular upright plumes of white flowers in early summer and bold leaves that turn buttery yellow in fall. It's at home under trees, along a woodland edge or as a specimen. It suckers into a wide clump, so give it plenty of room, and water it through hot, dry spells.
- Mature size
- 10 × 13 ft
- 3 × 4 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–8b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium to wet
- Blooms
- Jun–Jul
- Fall color Oct–Nov
Bottlebrush Buckeye at its mature size
A mature Bottlebrush Buckeye grows 8 to 12 feet tall and 12 to 15 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, The Morton Arboretum.
Through the year
What Bottlebrush Buckeye looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Apr
Bare upright gray stems in a broad clump.
In leaf · May, Aug–Sep
Dense hand-shaped leaves, no flowers.
In flower · Jun–Jul
Tall white bottlebrush flower spikes above hand-shaped leaves.
Fall · Oct–Nov
Leaves turned buttery yellow.
Photos
Growing Bottlebrush Buckeye
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, and the Midwest.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Hedge, specimen, rain garden, pollinators, and fall color
- Leaves
- Drops its leaves in winter
- Native to
- Southeastern United States
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Bottlebrush Buckeye, that’s about 13 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Bottlebrush Buckeye in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.