native plants: Red Buckeye

Native red buckeye (Aesculus pavia). photo by Jim Robbins, NCSU Extension

by Carolyn Thomas

Every spring, for the past 20 years, when I drive down the street in my neighborhood, I see a glorious display of red flowers with hints of orange borne above the foliage of a lovely single-stem small tree. The first time I saw this Aesculus pavia or the native Buckeye, I was blown away by its striking beauty. I had never seen a buckeye so large, nor had I seen it in tree form before.

Typically, Aesculus grows in shrub form along the edge of woods or streams where it catches dappled sunlight. The foliage is palmate, with thick bulky stems that create beauty in the winter landscape since buckeye is deciduous. The dark reddish-orange tubular flowers are held above the foliage in clusters. One great attribute is that the native buckeye is one of the earliest blooming plants that attracts hummingbirds. Make sure to clean up the seed pods in the fall since they are poisonous.

If you would like to purchase a buckeye, it can be purchased online through the BeFriend a Tree Sale with the Friends of the New Hanover Arboretum at friends-nhcarboretum. org/tree-sale. Sale continues through October 10.

Information on Aesculus pavia is available at the NC Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox site complements of NC State University. (https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ aesculus-pavia/).

Carolyn Thomas is president of the fundraising group Friends of the New Hanover County Arboretum. Funds from the Tree Sale go to garden maintenance and enhancements at the Arboretum on Oleander Drive. She loves Coastal North Carolina and is thankful to live and work here. Carolyn can be reached at gardengirlilm@ gmail.com.