# Yellow Buckeye (Aesculus flava)

> A tall buckeye for big spaces, with upright clusters of yellow flowers that draw hummingbirds and bees in spring.

Also called sweet buckeye, big buckeye, Aesculus octandra. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yellow-buckeye/

![Yellow buckeye (Aesculus flava) upright clusters of yellow flowers among palmate leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/yellow-buckeye-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, CC BY-SA 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAesculus_flava_kz03.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Large tree
- Mature height: 50 to 75 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 8
- Grows wild in: Rich moist slopes, the Appalachians, floodplain forests and stream banks
- Native range: 14 states and the District of Columbia, north to Pennsylvania, south to Georgia and west to Mississippi (Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia). Also recorded in 2 other states, outside its native range
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Wet
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Showy flowers, Wildlife value, Fall color
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Yellow buckeye is the largest of the buckeyes, a tree of Appalachian coves and river bottoms. It is one of the first trees to leaf out in spring, and its leaves turn yellow to orange in fall. Its husk is smooth, where Ohio buckeye's is spiny. Michael Dirr counts it the most beautiful of the large buckeyes. Save it for a park, a large lot or a streamside meadow, where its full form can be seen.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Yellow buckeye grows at a moderate pace, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. Expect 50 to 75 feet with a crown 30 to 50 feet wide. In 1982 the largest known tree stood 140 feet tall.

Upright clusters of yellow flowers, 6 to 7 inches long, open from April to June. Hummingbirds and bees come for the nectar. The smooth, leathery husk, 2 to 3 inches long, drops one to three glossy brown seeds with a pale eye in September. Squirrels eat some of them.

It grows wild from southwestern Pennsylvania down the Ohio River valley to southeastern Illinois, and south to northern Alabama and Georgia. It is most abundant in the Great Smoky Mountains, in coves, ravines and on north slopes from 1,500 to 6,100 feet.

## How to grow Yellow Buckeye

Yellow buckeye wants full sun or part shade and a deep, moist, rich soil that drains well, slightly acid. It takes brief flooding and the toxin of black walnut roots, but on dry or windy sites the leaves scorch. Plant it 30 feet from a wall and away from drives, since it drops husks, twigs and leaves through summer and fall. Keep it more than 50 feet from overhead wires, and set trees 40 feet apart.

Saplings ship potted. Yellow buckeye grows a large taproot and is hard to move once established, so plant it young and leave it in place. Plant in the dormant season, in a hole wider than the pot and deep enough for the taproot. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch a wide ring clear of the trunk. Buckeye seed dies if it dries out, so sow it fresh in fall. Set each seed an inch or two deep with the pale scar down. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for about 120 days first.

Water deeply every week through the first two summers, and in dry spells after that. Deer seldom browse it, but guard the young trunk against rabbits and voles for the first few winters. Train it to one leader while it is young, since it needs pruning for a strong structure.

Each flower cluster carries male flowers and, near its base, flowers with both male and female parts, so there are no male and female trees to pair. Bees and hummingbirds visit yellow buckeye flowers for nectar. In related horse chestnuts most seed comes from crosses between trees, though a tree's own pollen sets some, so a second tree nearby improves the crop. The seeds and young shoots are poisonous, so keep children, pets and livestock from eating them. Leaf blotch can brown the leaves in a wet summer, and buckeye lacebug can yellow them by midsummer. Powdery mildew and Japanese beetles are occasional.

## Sources

- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: yellow buckeye (Williams 1990)](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/yellow-buckeye)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual: Aesculus chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Aesculus.pdf)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Aesculus flava](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/aesculus-flava/)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Aesculus flava](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=281046&isprofile=1)
- [The Morton Arboretum: yellow buckeye](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/yellow-buckeye/)
- [University of Florida IFAS Extension, ENH-218: Aesculus flava, Yellow Buckeye (Gilman and Watson, 1993, reviewed 2003)](https://journals.flvc.org/edis/article/download/140895/145966/288424)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Aesculus flava](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=AEFL)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: yellow buckeye](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=140)
- [University of Georgia Extension, Bulletin 987: Native Plants for Georgia Part I](https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=B987)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online: Aesculus flava, from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/aesculus/aesculus-flava/)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Aesculus flava](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.158410/Aesculus_flava)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Why leaves turn red and yellow in fall, and which native trees give each color](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/why-leaves-turn-red-and-yellow-in-fall/index.html.md)
- [Six trees not to plant near a house, and what to plant instead](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/trees-not-to-plant-near-a-house/index.html.md)
- [Pruning at the branch collar, and when to make the cut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/pruning-at-the-branch-collar/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Yellow Buckeye, add ?species=yellow-buckeye with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=yellow-buckeye&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Yellow Buckeye](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=yellow-buckeye): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=yellow-buckeye
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Yellow Buckeye is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=yellow-buckeye
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Yellow Buckeye needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=yellow-buckeye:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Yellow Buckeye flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.