Redbud pods maturing

How to collect the seeds of Cercis canadensis

As I waited in a parking lot to meet my daughter a few days ago, I noticed the redbud (Cercis canadensis) trees nearby. This didn't require extreme tree identification skills -- the redbud is easily identified in summer by its (generally) heart-shaped leaves. In the leaf, several major veins begin at the juncture of stem and leaf, spreading out like spokes from the hub of a bicycle wheel.

Here is a good image of a redbud leaf at Bioimages. Please don't look at the photo in this post for help in identifying a redbud leaf. My photo has some other leaves of shrubbery mixed in with the redbud leaves. Also, the redbud leaves were a bit bug-eaten, and possibly mildewed. (We've had an exceptionally wet summer in this part of Kentucky.)

Besides the leaves, I knew these trees were redbuds because of the clusters of seedpods. Some of the seedpods were nearly mature and some were still green, but they were hanging in clusters from the  branches.

Curiously enough, the redbud doesn't bloom at the tips of its branches as most trees do. Redbuds bloom  from nodes on the branches. After a tree has bloomed many years from the same node area, it develops swollen areas that look almost pregnant. (image at right.)

If you want to collect redbud seed, wait until the pods are brown and dry. Then open the pods and pop out the seeds. Discard any seeds that have insect holes or that are not uniform in shape, size, or color. Store the seeds in a sealed container in the refrigerator or freezer. To sprout and grow, the seeds must be both scarified (seed covers scratched) and stratified (buried in cold wet sand for several months).

Nature doesn't seem to have much trouble with the
scarifying and stratifying. Owners of redbud trees can testify to the ability of redbuds to propagate themselves.

Wild redbuds and dogwoods

Cercis canadensis and Cornus florida

The redbuds and dogwoods are blooming right now (mid-April) in south-central Kentucky. At this time of the year, I love driving the rural backroads of Christian County and seeing the wild redbuds and dogwoods blooming in the woods.

I don't see much difference between the wild redbuds in the woods and the redbuds in towns, even though many of the hand-planted redbuds are probably cultivars. However, I do notice that most wild dogwoods have smaller, greener blossoms than the hand-planted dogwoods growing on lawns. The blossom size is bigger and the color is whiter in the cultivars.

Our trees in this part of Kentucky had a very hard winter. Many of them suffered a great deal of damage in the massive ice storm that hit this area. You can see broken limbs and a fallen tree in the foreground of the photo below.

However, the trees are responding to spring. They have wounds to heal and their injuries may shorten their lives, but they are blooming and beginning to leaf. Those are dogwoods blooming, on the opposite side of the pond.

Redbud tree in autumn

Cercis canadensis

This nice little redbud tree grows in front of the Christian County Water District office in Hopkinsville, KY. The building shelters it a little from the weather, so that's probably why it still has so many of its leaves in the middle of November.

The white building provides a dramatic backdrop to the redbud when it blooms. Sometimes people plant redbuds against a background of evergreen trees to showcase the bright lavender blossoms. These strategies highlight the autumn color of the redbud as well as its spring blooms.

The golden yellow of this tree's leaves is the typical fall color of the species. If you could look up into this tree's branches, you'd probably see some of its seed pods. The redbud is a legume and it produces a "bean pod." The pods are brown, flat, and up to four inches long.

The branches of redbud trees are usually more sprawling and widespread than this. I suspect that this tree has been pruned or topped to keep it away from the electric wire at the upper left of the photo. Redbuds can grow up to 35 feet in height, so they're not a good tree to plant under power lines.

I suppose you could plant a redbud seed, but it's easier to transplant a little tree that has sprouted in the wild. Move them in spring or in autumn, keeping as much dirt as possible around the roots by using the ball and burlap technique.

Or buy a young tree from a nursery. Various cultivars are available. Some even have white or pink blooms rather than the lavender that is usually seen in the wild redbuds.

Related posts:
Native beauties: Redbud and dogwood
Eastern redbud: A tree I love

Native beauties: Redbud and dogwood

Learning landscaping lessons from nature

I drove across part of northern Christian County by the backroads today. The dogwoods and redbuds are surely at their best right now.

Notice in the photo above how the dark evergreen background at right makes the blooms of the redbuds and dogwoods stand out clearly. This would be a nice effect when planting them around your home.

Eastern redbud: A tree I love

Cercis canadensis, a native ornamental tree

Redbuds and dogwood along the roadside,northern Christian County, KY

I love driving along the backroads of Christian County this time of year and seeing the redbuds and dogwoods in bloom. The dogwood above is just beginning to bloom. From my observation over the last 15 years, I would say that we have many wild redbuds and some dogwoods. The redbuds do well along the edges of woods because they like full sun or partial shade.

In the May 20, 1896, edition of Garden and Forest, Professor Charles Sprague Sargent (1841-1927) wrote, "The Redbuds, as usual, opened with the flowering Dogwoods, and it cannot be too often said what a fine forest border or background to a shrubbery these two trees make at this season." This is still true! They are especially beautiful against evergreens.

I ordered ten ornamental trees from Arbor Day about a dozen years ago. I don't remember all of the trees that were included, but the ones that survived were 3 redbuds and 2 Washington hawthornes. (All the trees were tiny bareroot sticks, and I didn't baby them much.)

I had read that redbuds were understory trees so I planted a couple of them under a big maple tree. I guess I was thinking I'd be able to see their blooms as I came and went through the kitchen door.

Truly it is a miracle that they survived at all in the dense shade of that big water-sucking maple. One of them has never yet bloomed. Both are growing very slowly and they're contorting themselves, growing sideways to the light. This little story falls under the category of really dumb tree mistakes.

I planted the third tree outside the maple's canopy where it gets good sunshine for at least half the day, and it's amazing how much better it has done than the other two. It began blooming several years ago, and it's at least twice as tall -- about 10 or 12 feet. It blooms nicely.

The seeds of the redbud aren't an important food for wildlife. In fact, Hightshoe classifies redbuds as having very low wildlife value. The tree is slow growing, and it's short lived (50 to 75 years.) It's also prone to weather damage, though it's not bothered much by insects or diseases.

Because it's a beautiful tree, I forgive it for having these faults. I love redbuds in spring with their lavender blossoms blooming close against dark, bare branches. I love their heart-shaped leaves in summer. I love their yellow leaves in autumn. And even in winter, the tree is a pleasant sight, usually with several trunks and branches clustered at the top of each.

Redbud flowers

A good blog article about Eastern redbud: "Texas Redbuds"