Heartnut

Juglans ailantifolia var. cordiformis

tree

Heartnut (Juglans ailantifolia var. cordiformis) is a variety of the Japanese walnut grown for its charming heart-shaped nuts, which hang in long strings of a dozen or more and crack open cleanly into two neat halves. It is a handsome, fast-growing, broad-canopied walnut with large tropical-looking leaves, more resistant to canker than butternut and quicker to bear - often in 4 to 6 years. Like all walnuts it produces juglone, so it needs the same careful siting away from sensitive garden plants.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Currant — A juglone-tolerant fruiting shrub for the partial shade near the tree
• Black Raspberry — Tolerates walnut-family juglone better than most brambles
• Clover — A juglone-tolerant nitrogen-fixing groundcover for the open soil

❌ Keep away from

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Walnut husk fly →

  Maggots tunnel the husks and stain the shells; rake up and destroy fallen nuts and hulls promptly

• Codling moth →

  Bores into nuts as it does apples; sanitation and pheromone traps reduce numbers

• Aphids →

  Cause honeydew and sooty mold but rarely real harm; a hose rinse and beneficial insects keep them in check

🌾 Harvest & storage

Heartnuts ripen in fall and fall in their husks; gather them promptly and wear gloves against staining. Remove the husks, wash the nuts, and cure them in an airy, shaded spot for a couple of weeks. The great virtue of the heartnut is the crack: a sharp tap on the seam splits the nut into two clean heart-shaped halves, far easier than butternut or black walnut. Cured in-shell nuts keep for months.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Heartnuts give a sweet, mild kernel much like butternut but milder, eaten fresh, in baking, and as a novelty for their perfect heart shape, and they are high in healthy fats. The tree is ornamental in its own right with bold foliage and dangling nut strings. Mind the juglone - keep tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, blueberries, azaleas, and rhododendrons clear of the root zone.