Redbud trees make me happy . Well , let ’s confront it , most florescence plants make me happy . But the Eastern redbud tree , orCercis canadensis , holds a particular charm for me . That ’s because it ’s one of the first tree to bloom in leaping . It provide irrefutable evidence that wintertime is finally over . Its lavender - pink flower service as a precursor to all the glorious colour and pageant that saltation has to offer . These smallish trees are mostly invisible the rest of the yr , but they are in their gloriole when uncounted M of them split into blossom throughout the eastern one-half of the United States every spring . If one redbud is a show showstopper , then a pigeonholing of them in bloom is sincerely a joyousness to lay eyes on . Although it deal the spotlight with groundless plums , cherry , flower magnolia , forsythias , dogwoods , quince bush and other former - blooming coinage , the redbud clearly steals the show .
The Cercis canadensis tree bear peculiar import throughout the early history of this country . According to the Arbor Day Foundation ’s website ( http://www.arborday.org ) , “ former settler found the blossoms of the redbud a delicious gain to their salad . former folk healers used the bark to cover common maladies and sometimes even leukemia….but the sheer spring beauty of the redbud may be its enceinte handgrip on the American spirit . ”
Andrea Wulf ’s bookFounding Gardenersreferences the redbud as one of the trees George Washington included in his Mount Vernon landscape because it “ deserves a office in my shrubberies . ” Finding “ a great abundance of the reddish - bud of all size ” in the forest , he directed that they be dug up and transplant into his gardens . Furthermore , Wulfstates that Thomas Jefferson included the easterly redbud in his plants at both Monticello and Poplar Forest .
The name of this tree has an interesting minute of chronicle connect with it . A related to species found in the Mediterranean , C. siliquastrum , is call a Judas tree diagram establish on the belief that it was the tree diagram upon which Judas Iscariot hanged himself after he betrayed Christ . According to fable , the flush , which were originally white-hot , turn blood-red either from shame or blood . The name Cercis canadensis stuck and the tree diagram has been referred to by that name ever since . InTrees of Eastern and Central North America , author Donald Peattie state slightly clapper in buttock : “ George Washington and Thomas Jefferson called it Redbud too , and that should be good enough for any American . ”
With such an teemingness of redbuds in the wild , they might seem vulgar and ordinary . So why plant them in your landscape painting ? Well , for one thing , their bound - time blaze of color is a pure pleasure to see after month of drab wintertime colors . For another , the heart - shaped , glowering green foliage is graceful and attractive during the summer months . As autumn approaches , the leafage turns a pleasing shade of sensationalistic . Clusters of flat green “ pea ” fuel pod develop on the leg in the summertime , bestow additional textural involvement to the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . The pod twist dark brown when mature and persist into wintertime . The Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ’s grim barque , disunite trunk , bare limb , and broadly rounded pate form an interesting and attractive wintry silhouette , particularly when treat with snow . Redbuds add grain and interest to a interracial bush border , either when develop as a single specimen or as a group , and they are peculiarly appealing in a naturalized setting .
Eastern redbuds are native to the eastern part of the United States and flourish in zones 4 – 9 . Members of the Fabaceae or pea mob , they are small understory trees that normally grow 20 to 30 foundation tall and tend to have a pleasing atypical form . As the tree ages , it develops a broader vase shape . In early spring , the prime buds display a Battle of Magenta or purplish - red hue . As the pea - shaped prime open up , their people of colour softens to a paler lavender - pinko or mauve color . The peak seem in clustering on newgrowth , as well as on the trunk and older branch , and persist for about three weeks . nub - shaped , dark green foliage emerge after the tree finishes bloom .
Cercis canadensis originate in full sun or fond specter and are adaptable to a orbit of soils , admit clay , loam and sand . Although they are stout and adaptable , they are felicitous in moist , well - debilitate soil . Because redbuds are native to such a big arena of the country and are therefore subject to a panoptic range of growing conditions , it is in the main best to take a specimen that has been grown locally . For optimal success , take a small-scale , well - rooted specimen because larger specimens may not transfer successfully .
Despite its name , redbuds are usable in more than one colour . For exercise :
And then there are the weeping forms .
If there ’s a down side to redbuds , it ’s that they are short lived in universal and may decline aftertwentyyears or so from disease . Despite this dire warning , I have had the great unspoilt fortune to see older redbud specimen with limbs that bent down and nearly touched the ground . But those are rarified and , should you encounter one , it will take your breath away with its graceful word form and beauty . Redbuds decline for a variety of reason . They are susceptible to fungal diseases , such as Botryosphaeria canker , which encircles the arm , efficaciously cut off the water supply to the leaves . Verticillium wilt is another awful disease that touch on Cercis canadensis . The Verticillium fungus blocks the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ’s vascular system , give the tree unable to move water and food . Pruning out any dead , cracked , or diseased branches aboutsix to eightinches below the pathologic area will help control both fungal diseases . It ’s important to cut into goodly forest and then disinfect pruners between cuts with scratch alcoholic beverage . Also , a well - watered Cercis canadensis tree is less likely to succumb to disease than a tree that is stressed by drought .
As for pests , redbuds are dependent to a few , such as treehoppers and scurf . treehopper are rarely serious and an plague can be check by spraying horticultural crude when temperature are between 35 ° and 85 ° F. Scale insects present themselves as crusted or waxy - calculate bumps typically on new wood . scale leaf infestations should be treated with horticultural crude in the bound or early summer if nymphs are present .
Redbuds are not exclusive to the east coast of this rural area . Two other subspecies of redbud , Oklahoma redbud ( C. reniformis ) and Western Cercis canadensis ( C.occidentalis ) , are also native to the United States . Oklahoma redbud is aboriginal to the southwest part of the country ( Texas and Oklahoma ) and is Oklahoma ’s state flower . It be given to be a little pocket-sized than Eastern Cercis canadensis and has thick , leathery leaves that make it more drouth tolerant than the eastern species . westerly Cercis canadensis is aboriginal to California , Arizona , Nevada and Utah . It is a drought - large-minded , shrub - like tree with blue - greenish foliation that tops out aroundfifteen to eighteenfeet tall and wide . To make out the picture , C. siliquastrum(or Judas tree diagram ) , which I mentioned above , is native to Europe and western Asia . C. chinensisis native to China and Japan . A third non - native species , C. mexicana , is native to Mexico .
plant life expert Michael Dirr tot up up the good luck charm of the Eastern redbud inDirr ’s Hardy Trees and Shrubsas conform to : “ A treasure in the April landscape when its agglomerate magenta bud unfold a blanket of rosy pinko . No adequate , no challenger , can be plant among little flowering landscape Tree — the stage is reserved for this native species . ” I quite check with his assessment . curiosity where I can get a bumper sticker that says “ I brake for redbud ! ”
rootage :
Arbor Day Foundation ( http://www.arborday.org ) .
Clemson University ( http://www.clemson.edu/extension ) .
Dirr , Michael A.,Dirr ’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs , 2005 .
Field Guide to North American Trees Eastern Region , published by National Audubon Society , 1996 .
Florida Cooperative Extension Service , Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences , University of Florida Environmental Horticulture Department ( http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu ) .
Peattie , Donald Culross , A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America , 1991 .
Virginia Cooperative Extension ( http://www.ext.vt.edu ) Publication 426 - 611 : Selecting landscape painting Plants : Flowering tree .
Wulf , Andrea , Founding Gardeners , 2011 .
