I have a 20+ year old sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) tree in my garden. I didn’t really think it would make it here, so it was planted in not the best spot in the garden. To my great surprise, it has only suffered a little frost damage at the tips in the first few years. It even survived the record cold winter in 2011 here when the entire root system would have been frozen solid for up to 4 months. Last year, I noticed both male and female flowers for the first time, but no nuts resulted. Then, I was leading a tour of the garden in September and took the participants into the lane below the garden from where there’s a good view of the chestnut, a mulberry, Chinese walnut, Carya ovata, Cornus kousa and Rhus typhina. My eyes rested on a chestnut at the top of the tree! I cried out in my excitement and did a little dance to the amusement of those present! The 20 year wait to see if chestnuts could ripen up here was perhaps over! With only one tree, I hadn’t expected this and had planted a second tree next to it, but that is also growing slowly and it will be some years before it flowers.

Last week, we had another look and it looked as though it was slightly open and looked mature (darker colour). I therefore decided to knock it down. There is thick vegetation below the tree, and despite searching I could find no chestnut….just the open husk (pictures). It was presumably not pollinated, but it does give me hope that it is possible in this area. This tree came from woodland in southern England. I’ve now planted good varieties at the community garden (Væres Venner Felleshage), so will just have to wait!