Dunstan Chestnut has been a widely popular and talked about plant the last few years.
The Dunstan Chestnut is the premier hybrid of American Chestnut, boasting its resistance to the Chestnut Blight and heavy fruiting capabilities. Cultivating for this hybrid started in the 1950’s, and recently became available for retail. The American Chestnut was a massive tree and also a staple in our native forest. In the early 1900’s, the Chestnut Blight wiped out nearly all of the American Chestnuts. So, with lots of combined help and research across the world, hybridization with blight resistant varieties began. The Dunstan cultivar is a combination of American, Chinese and even Japanese varieties. Furthermore, we have planted several of these trees over the past few years and we are excited to play our small part in the “come back” of this iconic tree.
Our second plant highlight is Persian Parrotia.
This is an often underutilized tree, but provides great character for all seasons of interest. This is a slow, often multi-stemmed tree that can eventually reach heights around 30 feet tall and a width of 25 feet. This tree blooms small red flowers in early spring. The fall leaf color is outstanding, with highly variable colors of yellow, orange and red. The tree also has exfoliating bark, which gives a unique appeal during winter when the leaves have long fallen.