Wild Chestnuts

I realized this year that chestnut seedlings can thrive in Portland through the summer with zero water. I’m pretty sure they’re going to become weeds which is awesome. Last year i found one or two. This year i’m seeing dozens of them 😁. This is great grafting material, potential sales or even maybe an improved generic adaptation for this area. I started with a good selection of parents so I’m fairly confident the offspring should also be great here. This is a pretty cool outcome. I had a strong sense that they would do well here but I never thought they’d do this well. Our summers are pretty rough and can lack rain for 4 or even 5 months sometimes. Then we get nearly non stop rain over the fall, winter and spring. I’ve noticed many trees get beat up pretty badly by this cycle. Mediterranean ones don’t seem to have an issue.

Zero water through a Portland summer is impressive, most seedlings still need a bit of help the first year. Self-seeding with known parents on top of that is the best kind of find.