What's Hot Now: Eastern Redbud

Eastern Redbud trees are a spring bloomer that I often forget about.  The blooms are unassuming, at about ½” each, covering branches and stems in the spring before the leaves emerge.  They’re easy to miss after the flurry of ornamental cherries, etc.  Ornamental fruit tree blooms are showy, while these beauties are diminutive.  But overall, redbuds are better plants.  In the course of its life, the Redbud will grow 20’ tall and 25-30’ wide, with lovely heart-shaped leaves that are thin and flutter easily.  It is a durable plant with few pests and diseases, provided that the tree is not under stress.  But redbuds do require regular watering, particularly in drought conditions.  Like dogwoods, redbuds don’t like to be moved, so plant when the tree is young.  I think it’s particularly stunning as a multi-trunk tree, rather than having one central leader.  In its native conditions along the eastern seaboard, the redbud is an understory tree, meaning that it grows beneath larger trees, much like our native vine maples do in PNW forests.  In hotter climates, the redbud will prefer part sun, but in the PNW, they prefer more sun than shade.

A mature example of Redbud.

 

There is a variety, ‘Forest Pansy,’ that is particularly showy.  Its new foliage in the spring is a bright red-purple and the leaves mature to maroon.  In autumn, the leaves turn red to orange, depending on the day to evening temperature difference.  Other small trees with beautiful purple foliage include Cotinus (smoke bush), Diablo Ninebark (Physocarphus ‘Diablo’), and Black Lace Elderberry (Sambucus ‘Black Lace’).  All three of these have summer blooms, but Forest Pansy stands alone with its pink blooms on bare stems in the spring.  Quite lovely.

Forest Pansy in summer.  Photo from oregonstate.edu

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