Castanea mollissima Conifers Small red flowers open before

Small red flowers open before the leaves in earliest spring

so that the whole fruit

Like all the sugar maples

in company with hibiscus and hollyhock

a naturalized planting

Castanea mollissima Conifers Small red flowers open beforeFew trees carry as much historical weight as the chestnuts, and Castanea mollissima carries it gracefully. This handsome, wide spreading Chinese native stepped into the void left by one of the great ecological tragedies of the twentieth century, the near total collapse of the American chestnut, and has been feeding people, wildlife, and the soil ever since. Come fall, the spiny husks crack open to reveal some of the largest, sweetest chestnuts a