Aesculus Hippocastanum Hedging

The Horse Chestnut or Conker Tree, Aesculus hippocastanum, is a big, spreading , round headed parkland tree with great flowers. It will grow on any well drained soil.
Horse Chestnut is not suitable for a clipped hedge.
It can be grown as a screening tree up to about 35 metres high. It is a good, tall windbreak tree.
The plants on this page are young saplings. You can also buy larger Horse Chestnut trees here.

See our selection of native hedging plants or view our full range of hedging.

Horse Chestnut saplings are only delivered bareroot, during winter (Nov-March).
All of our young trees and shrubs are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).

General description of Aesculus hippocastanum:
This is a large and vigorous tree that grows very well across Britain, apart from on the coast or exposed sites in Scotland. It has dense, dark green leaves with 5-6 spear head shaped lobes and in early summer it erupts with tall, thick cones of flowers which are beautiful to look at close up, each little flower resembling a papery little orchid. The autumn colour is yellow with burnt brown edges. The flowers mature into spiky, green seed balls that contain beautifully smooth, polished conkers.

History & uses of Aesculus hippocastanum:
Horse chestnut trees grow well in the city and provide plentiful nectar for bees. They have dense, shaggy canopies that make an effective windbreak and block out light during the summer.

Notes on planting Horse Chestnut:
Horse Chestnut will grow in any soil with decent drainage. They are pretty hardy, but they won't do well on exposed sites in the North East and Scotland.
Do not plant a horse chestnut tree closer than 30 metres away from a house or wall.

Prepare your site before planting:
It is good to dig over the area where you intend to plant several months in advance. Destroy the weeds first: nettles, brambles and ground elder are tough and a glyphosate based weed-killer is the best way to remove them. Then dig the soil over; remove rocks, roots and other rubbish. Mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades.
If you have a heavy clay soil, it might be too difficult to dig over for most of the year. Heavy clay is fertile soil, so you don't really need to improve it; killing the weeds is still necessary.

Remember to water establishing plants during dry weather for at least a year after planting.

Planting accessories:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass with Roundup weed killer.
If you are planting in an area with rabbit and/or deer, you will need to use a protective plastic spiral for each plant, supported by a bamboo cane.
If your soil quality is poor, we recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of new trees and shrubs.
You can also improve your soil with bonemeal organic fertiliser and Growmore.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery: The basic delivery charge for orders of bareroot plants is £6.50 + vat, which increases to £12.55 + vat if you add any pot-grown plants, standard trees or fruit trees to the order.
Because couriers sometimes experience delays, we schedule delivery by week, not by day. Therefore, please plan your planting day for the weekend at the end of the delivery week or for the week following delivery, at the earliest.
We will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.

*Surcharges to the Highlands and Islands still apply.

Payment: We do not charge your card until we begin to prepare your order for packing.

Guarantee: If any plants die within a year, we will replace them. We only ask that you follow our planting & growing instructions and sent us clear photographs of the dead plants in situ, so we can help to make sure that the replacement plants succeed. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.

Please note that our guarantee is void if there is a hosepipe ban in your area: your newly planted hedging must be watered in dry weather while it is establishing. The best way to water is very thoroughly every few days: at least once a week if there is no heavy rain.

Our nursery has been supplying container grown and bareroot hedging plants to gardeners, farmers and town planners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying hedging plants online. If any of your plants are damaged when they arrive or if you are otherwise not satisfied with your order after you inspect it, please repackage it and contact us. We will give you a refund or send replacements and send a courier to come and collect the unwanted plants.

Misc	Wildlife Value
Shade	Partial Shade
Area	Exposed Windy Areas, Frost Pockets
Soil	Acidic, Alkaline/Chalky
Type	Native, Screening
Also Good	Autumn Colour, Berries

	NUMBER OF PLANTS
SIZES	1-9	10-49	50-249	250-999	1000+
60/80 cm Bareroot	Plenty of Stock£3.20	Plenty of Stock£2.30	Plenty of Stock£2.10	Plenty of Stock£1.70	Plenty of Stock£1.50

Aesculus hippocastanum Saplings for Sale

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Aesculus Hippocastanum Hedging