The Red Bud Tree
According to legend, the betrayer Judas hanged himself from a redbud tree whose blossoms, says the story, were originally white. In shame, its blossoms became red.
This explains why some people call redbud the Judas tree.
In regions where it is native it is universally known and loved. Its rosy-pink blossoms are among. the earliest flowers to attract attention in the first days of spring. In the wild. When viewed from a distance, the contrast of its flowers against the pale green of swelling buds and newly opening leaves of other trees make it a sight long to be remembered.
It thrives under the shade of great trees and may mix sociably with lesser shrubs along a wooded glen.
The redbud never gets very tall.
It is broad and irregular in shape.
Its pea-like blossoms appear before the leaves. These are usually four to eight in a cluster and arc always borne on old wood.
Often they come right out of the trunk or larger limbs.
Leaves are heart-shaped, smooth and dark green, three to five inches long.
They turn bright yellow in the fall, snaking the tree as outstanding then as in the spring, By June or July the blossoms have given way to dark brown pods which cling to the tree until early winter.
In winter the twigs, becoming shiny and dark, arc especially interesting.
One should never try to transplant a redbud from the wild. In the first place you will be damaging the natural beauty of our roadsides.
Plants collected from the wild are not likely to grow after being transplanted. The surest way to get a redbud for your own garden is to buy a nursery-grown tree.
Set among other plants in the garden the redbud may be disappointing unless some thought has been given to choosing its location.
Its rosy-pink blossoms may clash with other flowers whose blossoms are red or pink. However, redbud blossoms combine well with white, blue or yellow flowers and they are effective against a blue sky. Redbud in a clump of common lilac with an underplanting of Virginia bluebells makes a most striking combination.
Some nurseries are now offering the white redbud, Cercis canadensis alba, which blends beautifully with almost any planting and keeps all the grace and refinement of the red form.
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