Red horse chestnut
Aesculus x carnea
A garden hybrid (Aesculus hippocastanum x A. pavia) grown for its showy, upright panicles of rose-red to pink flowers in mid-spring, set against bold, dark-green, palmately compound leaves. It makes a tidy 30-40 foot medium shade or specimen tree with a dense, pyramidal-to-rounded crown. Its main selling point over the common horse chestnut is health: red horse chestnut is far less prone to the leaf blotch and leaf scorch that brown out and disfigure A. hippocastanum by late summer, so the canopy holds up better through the season. The flowers draw bees and, with their narrow rose-red tubular florets, hummingbirds. One load-bearing caution applies: like all Aesculus, the smooth brown seeds (conkers) and other parts are toxic if eaten, so site it thoughtfully where there are children or pets. It is a low-seed-set hybrid, not weedy or invasive.
Climate fit: moderate (47/100)
Focal point
Structure
Pollinator
Light
Full sun / Part shade
Water
Consistent moisture
Mature size
360-480" tall · 300" apart
Hardy in zones
4a-9b
very cold to frosty winters
Native status
Cultivated — no wild native range
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Bees work the spring panicles for nectar and pollen.
Cold hardiness
These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.
Now
Zone 6b
Plotwright
USDA Zone 6b
-5°F to 0°F
Well-suited
Zone 7a
Plotwright
0°F to 5°F
Well-suited
In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.
✓
Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.
Heat tolerance
Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.
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Where this plant fits
Suitable across 41 ecoregions — 40 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 suited today. Best matches first.
Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests
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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests
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Arizona Mountains forests
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Atlantic coastal pine barrens
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Blue Mountains forests
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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands
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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests
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Central Tallgrass prairie
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Central-Southern Cascades Forests
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Chilean Matorral
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Similar plants
Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.
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Sources & citations
Cite this page
For lesson plans, articles, or research that uses this page. To cite a single upstream fact instead, use its specific source listed below.
Plotwright. (2026, May 17). Red horse chestnut (Aesculus x carnea). Retrieved 2026, June 24, from https://plotwright.com/plants/aesculus-x-carnea
Sources for every fact
Every fact on this page traces to a source. 18 fields cited - 18 source-backed.
NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
University extension service
Backs 17 fields
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