In 2019, our research staffers were botanizing in Montgomery County, NC, when Jeremy stumbled on this painted buckeye (Aesculus sylvatica) seedling with new pink growth. In the past, we have not had good luck transplanting seedling aesculus, but thankfully this one survived nicely and two years later, it looked great this spring as the new foliage emerged. When it gets larger, we’ll share scions with grafters so we can make this more widely available.
Love this! Would love to have one if they become available.
Dunno how you did it, but if something like this happens again, have a compatible plant on standby to graft/bud on whilst getting it to reestablish from transplanting.
The problem is that you never know what you will find botanizing in the wild.