Rewilding My Lot

In April 2024 I planted a small Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) tree. It was just 14 inches tall at the time.

By July 2024 it had lost almost all its leaves. This concerned me, but then I learned that this deciduous tree does lose its leaves early in the year. So I figured it would spend all its energy until the following spring growing stronger underground.

I was hopeful in spring 2025, waiting for new leaves to emerge, but they did not. This photograph was taken in March 2025, long after other Red Buckeyes nearby were growing leaves and flowers.

At that point my conclusion was that this tree was in fact dead. However, since if I were to replace it, I wouldn’t do that until the fall (a better time to plant here where the summers are brutally hot). So I left it in place in the meantime.

However, just a couple of weeks later I noticed two little buds growing from the ground!

Over the next two months, those new buds grew taller and the original stem fell away. And here at the end of May 2025 is what it looks like. At 11 inches tall it is almost the size it was when I bought it (14 inches) and this version has a double trunk. I hope that now the root system is stronger and that it will have an easier time making it through to next year.

I still have the shade structure that I built for this little tree, but it blew down in a recent storm and I haven’t put it back up yet.