BRIEF:
Bred in Connecticut in 1937 and still one of the standards growers plant. A hybrid, but one whose seedlings come out reliably Chinese-like.

DETAILED:
Sleeping Giant was bred here in Connecticut, from a cross made in 1937 at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station under Arthur Graves and later Dick Jaynes. Nearly ninety years on it is still one of the six mother trees Greg Miller recommends to anyone planting a seedling orchard.

It is a hybrid — Chinese crossed with Japanese and American — and we say so plainly rather than calling it a Chinese chestnut. But it behaves very much like a Chinese tree, and Route 9 Cooperative makes a point that matters for an orchard like ours: its offspring come out consistently Chinese-like and of reliable quality. For a farm growing seedlings rather than grafts, a hybrid that breeds true to type is worth more than one that scatters.

The nuts are medium-large, around forty to the pound, handsome and good eating. It ripens early to mid-season and bears with unusual consistency from year to year.

It was bred about twenty miles from where it now grows.

New to growing chestnuts? Start here.

Choose Your Tree

Sleeping Giant seed nuts will be available from specific trees in our orchard — pick the tree you'd like yours grown from below.