Let Me Introduce to You, The One and Only..........

Being the avid gardener that I am, I was quite excited last week when I noticed blossoms on one of our trees. Actually there were eight(8) of them! Been waiting for years...literally, for this tree to grow up and start producing!!!

It's always been a favourite of mine since I was a kid collecting as many 'nuts' off the ground as I could. We used these to have competitions in the school yard at recess. We'd dig a hole through it with a nail and string it with a strong cord and tie it at one end in knots so it wouldn't fall off the cord. Then we'd bash away at the opponents' till one or the other broke to bits. It was fun. I must be really old!!!!

The tree of course is the Chestnut Tree. The ones that grow around here are not true chestnuts (I just found out) but pass for them. It's real name is Horse Chestnut (Buckeye)....Aesculus Hippocastanum. 

I planted this one from seed about 15 years ago. It came from the grounds of Ron's and my university (Acadia) which has a few of these gigantic specimens. I've always had a hard time passing these trees in the early fall when the chestnuts are starting to fall without picking up a few. They feel so smooth and new.

So I planted a few and this one 'took'. We've been watching it grow and grow and grow. Much to our chagrin at first because it was starting to shade everything underneath it. If Ron had his way (which is not all the time) that tree would be long gone. But I persisted and here it is today.....with blossoms!!

Lean your head to the right....oops!


It's going to be huge eventually. It is about 20 feet high now and will keep going to about 50.

I love it and it always brings back good childhood memories and my university days in Wolfville, Nova Scotia where Ron and I met. Both are keepers!