Fort McNair Red Horse Chestnut

Fort McNair Red Horse Chestnut (Aesculus × carnea 'Fort McNair')
Height: 40 feet Spread: 40 feet Sunlight: Full sun to partial shade Hardiness Zone: 4b
 
Description: The Fort McNair Red Horse Chestnut is a hybrid small tree celebrated for its showy panicles of pink and yellow flowers in spring. This versatile tree is ideal for many landscape applications, making it a great accent tree for smaller home landscapes. Although the spiny seeds may necessitate some maintenance, this tree's ornamental beauty more than compensates for the effort.
 
Ornamental Features:
Flowers: Bold spikes of pink flowers with yellow eyes rise above the foliage in mid-spring.
Foliage: Dark green deciduous foliage that emerges light green in spring. The palmate leaves turn yellow in the fall.
Fruit: While the fruit can be messy, it is infrequent and may require occasional clean-up.
 
Landscape Attributes:
Dense deciduous tree with a rounded form.
Coarse texture that stands out among landscape plants with finer foliage.
Requires occasional maintenance and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed.
No significant negative characteristics.
 
Recommended Uses:
Accent
Shade
 
Planting & Growing:
Grows to about 40 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 40 feet.
Low canopy with a typical clearance of 4 feet from the ground, making it unsuitable for planting under power lines.
Grows at a medium rate and can live for 60 years or more under ideal conditions.
Thrives in full sun to partial shade.
Prefers average to moist conditions and should not be allowed to dry out. May require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat.
Not particular about soil type or pH.
Highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner-city environments.
This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.