American Chestnut leaves and nuts (Wikimedia)
Eleven years ago I had planted three American Chestnut trees (a once-abundant species in Ontario that has almost completely disappeared as a result of a fungus; now new varieties are being developped) on our property south of Kinmount. Last last year one of them produced nuts. I had hoped to harvest them to propagate, but they were too far up, and the squirrels beat me to it. About a month ago I found a seedling growing near my gate! I wish the squirrels had picked a better spot to plant it, because I then had to transplant it to prevent it from being run over. Last week it had gone dormant, so I moved it up closer to the others; we’ll see next year if I was successful. I hope the deer don’t get it. It seems odd to me that we didn’t get any chestnuts this year, even though everything else produced in abundance.
American Chestnut – Pennsylvania – 1914 (Wikimedia)
Michael Doran, Peterborough and Kinmount
