Chinese Flowering Chestnut, Shiny Leaf Yellowhorn

Love the Yellowhorn trees! We received a round pod with seeds in it about 10 years ago from my sister-in-law. I thought their bush was so...Read More beautiful. She was not sure what it was named or if the "round Thing" was a seed or fruit or nut or had seeds in it. My husband put it away in our extra fridge and opened and planted some of the seeds in small potsThe following spring. I think we had approx. 7 come up. We had just about given up on them. We have 3 all 12+ feet tall. One is from the 1st planting and 2 others are second plantings from the same group of seeds. We also gave a bunch to family and friends. We also have 2 small ones that will probably be bushes versis the other 3 are groomed as nice trees. The first planting all were called the "Todd Trees" after my nephew who went through a tough heart surgery sucessfully on the same day the 1st planting of these beautiful trees emerged from the soil. So they are very special to us!
Thanks and I would like to hear anyother stories.

Bought this as a 2 year old ( 2ft ) dry root plant grown from seed by the nursery. I have had it about 5 years and its now 12ft tall and...Read More still going. Looks lovely when in full flower the white flowers fading through to a carmine red before they drop, and people who see it in flower come knocking. We live on a clay based soil and it seems to thrive, occasionally having a bit of die back( dont know why) the garden temp got down to -10 this winter but it came back as good as ever. Flowers seem to last for about a month to 6 weeks on average. Been totally hardy up to now. Grown a new plant from seed ( self set ) for a neighbour this year, seems to have a few suckers, so will try to get them going as well at the end of the year. This year it has suprised me with a large nut case similar to a smooth horse chesnut and about the size of a golf ball at the moment but i will let it grow and see what happens. Pictures to follow.

I grew this small tree from seed. The seeds sprout easily and the trees flower while it still quite small. My trees are about 6 feet ta...Read Morell and 5 years old. The flower profusely in the early spring.

The flowers remind me of catalpa flowers. I have never noticed any fragrance to them. After the flowers fade the tree has nice glossy green compound foliage that looks good all season. The fruits are small round nut like things. Mine are growing in partial shade on a very dry slope and seem to sucker a bit. The tree is totally hardy in St. Paul, MN - never any die back.

I belive that the squirrels are taking the fruit - a round capsule with large seeds. I wonder if they eat it? If I will start to find new plants about like I do with black walnuts?

In part-shade (Zone 5) it's very slow-growing, maybe 3' high in 5 years. But started blooming when small - not much flowers, just enough ...Read Moreto remind me why I planted it. The flowers are beautiful & dainty.