Plant of the Day: American Chestnut
Photo of American Chestnut (Castanea dentata)

Photo by Lisa Marini Finerty


The Comeback!


The American chestnut, the most majestic and prized tree of the eastern U.S., was brought to the brink of extinction by a fungus accidentally imported from China around 1900. Cites and whole states tried to halt the blight by cutting gaps in the forest or removing all local trees. In vain. By 1940 the eastern trees were gone. Some trees lived on west of the Mississippi River, maybe because the beetle that transports the fungus could not cross the water.


The American chestnut is coming back. There’s a breeding program that crosses the American and Chinese chestnuts, grows the seedlings, selects those that look most like the American (straight-growing, toothy leaves) and resist the blight. After two decades, when the seedlings first flower, they are crossed with American chestnuts. The program has reached the fifth generation of hybrids. Today, there are varieties that are 95% American and resist the blight. Woo-hoo! Plant them. Now. Here’s one source.


The nuts are small, sweet and nutritious, the trees are giants. In some groves, they stood with their toes almost touching and their first branches fifty feet up a straight trunk. The nuts fell in huge quantities, feeding flocks of turkeys and people. The dream endures that someday our forests will hold American chestnuts again.


By Mark Kane - the Groundskeeper, YourGardenShow.com

Copyright © 2012 YourGardenShow.com

Want to read more about this plant and other varieties? Click here for the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) Plant Page!

Plant Photo Tagging - How it Works

Video by Tom Finerty, founder YourGardenShow.com

Plant Photo Tagging allows you to turn any garden photo into a rich tapestry of what you have planted. It’s fun, informative, and helpful to others visiting your garden. As you photo tag, you can easily add plant names from our database and/or make notes about anything you’d like. To get started, sign-in and go to your Garden.


Click on any image in your garden's slideshow Carousel to get to full-view mode. Click on the “Tag” icon just below your photo and you are ready to tag! Simply click and drag your mouse over a plant or area you’d like to highlight or tag. A pop-up box will appear and ask for either a plant name or a note - add one or both, then click “tag” and you’ve just tagged your garden!


Write and tell us your suggestion for a "How it Works" video:
how-it-works@yourgardenshow.com


For more info contact: help@yourgardenshow.com

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Plant of the Day archive

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White spruce

Striped squill

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American Hazelnut

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'Cherry Pink' Tomatoes