Want a little piece of Paris or Munich growing in your yard? Then plant a horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum).

Often confused with the Ohio buckeye (A. glabra), these trees are known better for their hard little fruit than their flowers.

But once you've see them in bloom -- now is a good time -- you'll want one.

Neither the tree nor its flowers is delicate. Each large leaf is separated into seven sawtoothed lobes that look like fat human fingers.

The 6-inch high flowers look like mini-wedding cakes, with tiers of pink and white petals that last for at least two weeks.

Once the flowers are gone, you're left with a slightly gangly shade tree that grows to 50 or 75 feet tall (make sure you've got room) and drops buckeye-like nuts in the fall (watch out below!).

But those conkers aren't the reason horse chestnuts were planted long ago on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. An avenue of horse chestnuts in bloom is nothing but romantic.

Elsewhere in Europe, horse chestnuts are often found shading drinkers in German beer gardens.

That's what drew my attention. After seeing many photographs and postcards showing these trees surrounded by benches and beer drinkers, I tried to find out what they were.

Confused at first because the Europeans called them simply "chestnuts," I bought several small Chinese chestnut trees and planted them on a sunny slope in the back yard.

Not long after, I discovered Chinese chestnuts are not even in the same family as horse chestnuts. They're related to the American chestnut (Castanea dentata), which has nearly disappeared because of a blight.

The good news is that neither my Chinese chestnuts nor horse chestnuts are susceptible to blight.

It also means I can eat the nuts someday, but the flowers are nothing special -- little fluffy yellowish-white plumes.

Once I had the right Latin name, I turned to the Internet and discovered that not only could I buy the real thing, but also I could get one without nuts.

'Baumannii' is a double-flowered sterile tree that produces no conkers, so I won't have to worry about one falling on my head, in my beer or anywhere else.

I bought a 5-foot-tall tree from mail-order nursery Greer Gardens (www.greergardens.com). Greer doesn't have 'Baumannii' now, but it does have the species and, for people who prefer a much smaller tree (15 feet) with red flowers, a red buckeye (Aesculus pavia). Urban Gardener on the North Side also has one 4-foot horse chestnut (with nuts) for $90.

I planted mine in a raised bed near the one section of a deck not already shaded by 60-foot-tall pine trees. It's grown about 3 feet in two years but has yet to flower.

While I'm waiting, I get my fix admiring a 30-foot-tall specimen on a nearby street and some older, larger trees in Mt. Lebanon Cemetery on Washington Road.

TRYOUT is a collection of mini-reviews and news about plants products for the home. To submit ideas, e-mail Home & Garden editor Kevin Kirkland at kkirkland@post-gazette.com or call 412-263-1978.