Featured Plant Spring 2008

Texas Redbud (Cercis canadensis)

The Texas Redbud is a small deciduous tree growing from 20 to 30 feet tall, and spreading from 15 to 20 feet.

The text below was copied from The Dirt Doctor - Howard Garrett

NATURAL HABITAT AND PREFERRED SITE: Eastern third of Texas from the Piney-woods into northeast and central Texas spreading across the center of the state. Redbud will grow in a wide range of soils in the full sun or as an understory tree.

IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION: The overall look is that it is a small tree with a spreading and rounded to irregular crown. Eastern redbud is the largest of the redbuds and is usually single trunked.

FLOWERS AND FRUIT: Various shades of lavender, purple or white flowers in the early spring before the leaves start to emerge. Flowers are about ½ inch in length and occur in clusters of 4 to 8 on older branches, often along the trunk. The buds are beautiful even before the flowers open and are more tasty eaten at this point. Fruit forms in clusters of flattened papery pods that range in length from 2 to 4 inches, ripen in the fall. Dark shiny seeds inside are about ¼ of an inch long. Pods remain on the tree throughout the winter.

BARK: Tight and thin, ranges from light gray-brown when young to reddish brown turning a darker gray to almost black with age. The trunk eventually becomes scaly and separating into narrow ridges with maturity.

FOLIAGE: Alternate, simple, deciduous, yellow fall color that is usually less than spectacular. Leaves are 3 to 5 inches long, dark green on top, lighter on bottom, distinctive heart shaped, dull in texture.

CULTURE: Redbud is easy to grow in a wide range of soils from sandy up to very rocky alkaline, white limestone rock. The plant is drought tolerant and doesn’t need a lot of fertilizer although it responds to a good fertilization program.

PROBLEMS: Borers, leaf rollers and other minor insects attack trees that are in stress. Leafminers can also be a minor problem.

INSIGHT: Cercis canadensis var. mexicana is the Mexican redbud. It generally grows to 20 feet in height and is multi- trunked. It likes the hard alkaline soils of west Texas. Its leaves are smaller than those of Texas redbud and crinkled around the edges. The cultivar ‘Oklahoma’ is apparently bred from this tree. Texas redbud, Cercis canadensis var. texensis, is common on the thin calcarious soils from central Texas going west of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Its leaves are thicker, dull blue and leathery or shiny dark green on top. Its twigs and leafstalks are smooth whereas the Mexican redbud twigs and leafstalks are hairy.

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NEWS FROM LOST VALLEY GARDENS

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New LVG Pictures

Although the mornings are still quite cool here in the hill country, there are definitely signs of spring showing. Our new redbud tree started blooming several days ago. The golden leadball tree that we planted over the winter is also just starting to bud out. Narcissus and gladiolus bulbs are sprouting. The larkspurs that I direct seeded in November are almost ready to bloom, and the native columbines have just started to open their blooms. The Carolina jessamine outside my office is now covered with blooms, and butterflies are showing up on warm days. All sure signs that spring's arrival is imminent.

We have made some additions to the front courtyard beds over the past few weeks which are worth mentioning (at least I am pretty excited about them). In the perennial bed on the west side of the yard I added two 'The Fairy' roses near the center of the bed. I also planted horsetail reed, rock penstemon, pink gaura, 'Husker Red' penstemon, and four nerve daisy in this bed.

In the north bed I added a Belinda's Dream and a Caldwell Pink rose, and started to build a rock garden area in front of the Knock Out rose hedge. The rock garden plants installed so far include green santolina, Mexican sedum, sedum 'Golden Acre', sedum 'Tricolor', and a cactus of some sort (lost the label). We have added many interesting rocks to all of the beds for added interest.

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1501 Sycamore Creek Dr, Dripping Springs, Texas E-mail carol@lostvalleygardens.com
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