Our late spring flowering trees are now dropping their blooms - their time is over. It makes me sad in a way - true spring is not that long where I live in New York State. It seems like it is over in a snap of the fingers.
For the next few days, the weather will be cooling down here after highs near 90 F (32C) and maybe spring will slow down just a little.
Unlike some spring trees, the horse chestnuts don't flower until their leaves are grown out. Flowers can be either whitish or pink.
This is a pink tree I found today on an exercise walk, and there is a
story related to that tree that is worth another post.
The pink flowered varieties aren't that common around here. The one large specimen I know of is in the middle of a roundabout (aka traffic circle) and no way I'm going to try to take a picture of that tree.
In the fall, the horse chestnut tree produces inedible nuts that children love to
play games with. One game, in particular, conkers, stretches back
hundreds of years. There's an entire tradition in Great Britain
built around preparing and playing with your horse chestnut nut. My spouse played a variation of this game growing up near New
York City.
What a lot of history rolled into one tree.
But, what are horse chestnuts, exactly?
They are not native to our country, but rather, to the Balkins. They were introduced into Great Britain in the 1600's.
One thing they are not is edible - in fact, the entire plant, including its nuts (in Europe, they are called "conkers") are mildly poisonous.
The nuts are edible for horses (and deer); perhaps that is the origin of the name. Their scientific name is Aesculus (with about 15
species - I don't know which one I took a picture of but I suspect it is
hippocastanum). The trees have an interesting history.
As for conkers, my spouse, growing up near New York City, would play that game. It was a favorite game at one time in Great Britain.
I wonder if it enjoyed a resurgence last year, and, if so, if it will keep its popularity as our isolation ends.
As the saying goes, only time will tell.
Normally, I would link up with Parul of Happiness and Food at her #ThursdayTreeLove but COVID is still rampaging through India and I don't know if she and others will be able to join us. If they can, I will update this page.
Please continue to think of them.
Hello Alana .. they are very majestic trees indeed ! .. I had no idea they had such a long history and the game connected with them I think I heard of the word conkers, but I had no idea what it was about. Those pink flowers remind me of my hydrangea .. the conical shape is so similar. Our Springs barely stay with us 3 weeks and then we shift so quickly into summer with heat and humidity. The seasons are greatly affected by climate change and that is sad.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful trees. I think spring is too short everywhere! Have a great weekend Alana. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, the pink one is pretty! I've heard of conkers in books I've read, but never really "got it." Nice information on that link you included, thanks. It makes me wonder, what do children have that is so sharp it can drill a hole in a horse chestnut?
ReplyDelete...and the red one is a knockout.
ReplyDeleteI started watching this older show on Hulu a while back. (I've got about a season and a half still to go until I finish it.) They had an episode where two of the men get into a Conkers battle. And I had no idea what the heck they were on about. So, thanks for the background. I might need to rewatch that episode now that I have the context.
ReplyDeleteI learned something because of you. I have never heard of a horse chestnut tree.
ReplyDeleteThey had a horse chestnut tree at the local nursery and I considered it until I found out how messy they are. I already have two messy trees in my yard.
ReplyDeleteI was online with a cousin in Australia this morning and she said they are again in lockdown because of an outbreak of the India variant.
There is also a red buckeye (horse chestnut) that is a large shrub rather than a tree. Wish I had room to plant one.
ReplyDelete