Beautiful Eastern Redbud Trees

One of my honey bees visits an Eastern Redbud tree in my garden. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Beautiful Eastern Redbud Trees

Cercis canadensis, or Missouri’s Eastern Redbud trees, grow naturally on my Missouri limestone hillside garden. From when they start blooming in March through early May, they surround my garden in a lovely haze of pink.

When I first moved to this site in 1982, it took several years to get a sense of what was already blooming. One of the obvious residents were Eastern Redbuds. Instead of clearing them, I started to stake them so they grew a little straighter and worked around them. Now several decades later, these lovely understory trees announce the arrival of spring.

Some years, Eastern Redbuds phase into their heart-shaped leaves before flowering dogwoods start their show. This year, both Eastern Redbuds and flowering dogwoods are once again blooming at the same time.

After blooming, Eastern Redbuds grow charming heart-shaped leaves.

In addition to adding beauty to my garden, Eastern Redbud trees are excellent bee food.

Eastern Redbuds surround my side house deck and apiary. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Eastern redbud bark is reddish brown to gray, thin and smooth when young. Older trees have long grooves and short, thin, blocky plates.

Twigs are slender, smooth, brown to gray, often zigzag, pith white.

Fruits are pods 3–4 inches long, about ½ inch wide, tapering at the ends, leathery, reddish brown; seeds several, egg-shaped, flattened, 1/8–1/4 inch long. Pods often abundant, appearing September–October and persisting.

At maturity Eastern Redbuds can grow to 40 feet tall; 35 feet wide. On a limestone hillside, though, it can take them several decades to get that tall and wide.

When I think of spring pink, I think of Eastern Redbud trees. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Eastern Redbuds can have skinny trunks and be more susceptible to wind and storm damage. I would still plant them in a garden, they are well worth the effort. Well, unless they grow naturally. Then they are still worth the effort to stake and help grow straight.

Charlotte