Gabriella (G-3) – Sleeping Giant seed nuts
Ordering 25 nuts or more? Enter code ORCHARD25 in your cart to pay just $1 each.
The variety
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 twenty miles from where it now grows.
The tree
Gabriella has shown vigorous growth in our orchard since planting in April of 2023, she is reaching tall like a timber form tree but she is spreading as well like an orchard form tree, overall a spectacular specimen in our orchard. She is bearing a nice crop of burs this fall mainly way up high in the top of her canopy.
Form: Timber
$1.25 per nut. Limit 10 nuts per mother tree per order for 2026, so more growers get a chance at each tree. Want more? Mix trees. Ordering 25 nuts or more? Enter code ORCHARD25 in your cart to pay just $1 each.
Preorder: shipped orders go out after November 15. Chestnuts are living seed, and holding them until the weather settles into steady cold keeps them from cooking in a warm mailbox or a delivery truck. Your card is charged when you order, and if anything goes wrong on our end, you get a full refund. Local? Choose Pickup at the Ellington Farmers Market at checkout (order by midnight, October 16).
What to expect: seed nuts aren’t planted right away. They need a cold rest first, called stratification, and it’s easy. Keep them in a bag in your refrigerator through the winter, slightly damp, and plant them in spring. That’s how nature does it, without the squirrels. Wrap the nuts in a damp paper towel, or pack them in a little damp peat moss, inside a plastic bag. The towel or peat should be moist but not dripping. A paper towel is the easiest choice for a few nuts. Don’t use potting soil or garden dirt, which can carry mold spores and disease. When you check them each month, re-dampen the towel if it has dried out. Store them in the coldest spot in your fridge that doesn’t freeze, ideally 34–38°F. A little mold on a few nuts is normal. Check them once a month, set aside any moldy ones, and rinse them clean. A nut with some mold is still good to plant as long as it’s firm and not overrun. We commonly get 90–95% germination here, but every refrigerator is different, so expect fewer and plant a few extra. Every order comes with step-by-step instructions. Please don’t plant them outdoors this fall; they’re much safer in your fridge until spring.
New to growing chestnuts? Start here.
*Seedlings may not match their mother tree's form. Why?
Why nearby trees matter
Chestnut trees don’t self-pollinate, each one needs pollen from a different, genetically distinct tree nearby to set a good crop of nuts. That’s cross-pollination, and it’s one of the most important things to plan for when deciding where to plant.
The diagram below shows this tree’s actual neighbors in our orchard, by variety. It’s not lab-confirmed parentage, just a look at what’s genuinely nearby based on distance, but it gives you a sense of the diversity around this tree. When you plant your own seedling, aim for the same setup: at least one other unrelated chestnut tree within about 100 feet.
