Tree · Fabaceae
Eastern Redbud
Cercis canadensis
Watch it set the bare spring woods aglow with rose-pink flowers clinging right to the branches before the first leaf ever shows.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 4–9
20–30 ft · 6.1–9.1 m
Overview
If you are looking for a small native tree that will make you feel like a gardener, eastern redbud is a kind place to begin. In early spring it draws every eye, as rose-pink to magenta blossoms open straight from the naked branches and even the trunk, well before any leaf appears. It sits in the legume family alongside peas and beans, and that kinship explains why each little flower carries a pea-like shape and why flat seed pods come along later on.
Once the petals drop, broad heart-shaped leaves fill in and the tree eases into a soft, rounded outline. It keeps to a friendly scale at 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 m) tall, so you can give it a home in a yard where a big shade tree would feel cramped. Better still for a worried beginner, it takes light graciously, from full sun all the way to fairly deep shade, which makes it a lovely choice for a woodland edge or a spot beneath taller trees.
The real comfort is that redbud is forgiving and easy to please once its roots have settled, growing happily across zones 4 through 9. Just two things deserve your care: it would rather not be uprooted and moved, and a handful of fungal troubles can creep into a tree that is run down. Keep it content and healthy, and it will give back generously while asking very little of you.
Care
The short version: give it a home in full sun to part shade with average, well-draining soil, water it faithfully while it is still young, and save your pruning for after the blooms have faded. It takes most soils in stride and laughs at the cold, yet it cannot stand soggy ground and would really rather stay put once it has settled in.
Light
Redbud is wonderfully relaxed about light and will grow in anything from full sun to full shade, so do not lose sleep over finding the perfect spot. It does flower most freely and hold a fuller shape somewhere between full sun and part shade, which makes a woodland edge that catches sun for part of the day a happy match.
Water
While the roots are still taking hold over the first year or two, aim to keep the soil evenly moist with steady watering. A grown tree copes calmly with short dry spells, yet it cannot weather a long drought and turns unhappy in soggy, waterlogged ground. When a dry stretch carries on past a few weeks, simply give it a good deep drink.
Soil
You have real freedom here, as this tree settles happily into loam, clay, or sand so long as the water can drain away, and it accepts a broad pH range from 5.5 to 8.0 without complaint. Average, medium-moisture ground suits it perfectly. The one thing it truly cannot abide is soil that stays wet and never dries.
Temperature
Redbud is far hardier than a beginner might expect, weathering winters as deep as -29°F (-34°C) and summer heat climbing to 95°F (35°C). That sturdy cold tolerance is exactly what allows it to feel at home across such a sweeping range of the country.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor air is all this tree asks for, so there is no humidity number for you to chase. What counts a good deal more is gentle air movement, because still, crowded air is what tends to invite leaf spot and other fungal bother.
Feeding
Offer it a feeding in early spring as the new growth wakes up, reaching for a balanced slow-release tree fertilizer. Thoughtful feeding does far more than nudge along growth, since a well-nourished tree stands up much more sturdily to canker and wilt.
Pruning
Wait to prune until late spring, just after the flowers finish, then ease out any dead, broken, or cankered wood and tidy the shape to your liking. The moment you notice a cankered or wilting branch, take it off to keep disease from traveling. And do keep lawn weedkillers well clear, as redbud is genuinely touchy about herbicide drift.
Repotting
You will seldom keep redbud in a pot, and repotting is rarely something you will need to think about. Should you hold a young one in a container for a while, simply watch for roots winding around or slipping out, water rushing straight through, or new growth coming in thin, all of which gently tell you it is ready for more space or a place in the ground.
Size & spacing
Picture a grown tree of 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 m) tall carrying a wide, open crown of 25 to 35 feet (7.5 to 10.5 m). Set it where it has all that breathing space from the start, since the canopy reaches broadly and the tree would rather not be moved once it is planted.
When to plant
Plant your young redbud out in early spring, while it is still little and gentle to lift into its forever spot, because shifting it later on is something it would much rather avoid. Be patient and the gift arrives the very next spring, when those bare branches break open into pink bloom from March through May, well ahead of nearly anything else you are growing.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: early spring while young, in a permanent protected site (does not transplant well)
- Harvest: early spring (March to May), pea-like rose-pink to magenta flowers on bare branches and trunk before leaves emerge
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 4–9
Temperature: down to -34°C
Troubleshooting
Almost every redbud worry comes back to a fungus settling into a tree that is stressed or carrying a wound. Once you can tell a serious canker or wilt from the harmless spotting on a few leaves, you will feel sure of yourself about when to step in and when to simply let things be. Compare what you are seeing to the notes below, and act early only on the troubles that truly matter.
A branch fading away with dark, sunken patches sinking into the bark
What you are seeing is Botryosphaeria canker, a fungus that finds its way in through a wound or a tired patch of wood and then chokes off the limb beyond it. Take heart: cut that branch off well below the dark patch, wipe your blade clean between cuts, and burn or bag what you remove. Because this fungus seldom bothers a strong, well-tended tree, your steady watering and gentle attention are honestly the kindest protection you can give it.
Fix:
- Prune out and destroy all dead, dying, and cankered branches well below the lesion
- Disinfect pruning tools between cuts
- Improve vigor with proper watering, mulching, and correct fertilization
Drooping, undersized leaves showing up on just one half of the tree
This pattern points to Verticillium wilt, which travels up through the roots and plugs the water channels inside, which is why one side often suffers ahead of the other. To be sure, peel back a sliver of bark on a drooping limb and you will likely find dark streaks running through the wood. There is no cure, so do not blame yourself: simply keep the tree as strong as you can, take out the dead wood, and avoid replanting a vulnerable kind in that same ground. Note too that the cultivar 'Forest Pansy' tends to struggle most.
Fix:
- Prune out dead wood and dispose of it
- Improve host vigor with light mulching and watering during dry periods of more than a few weeks
- Fertilize when appropriate and manage other stresses
Patchy brown or black marks scattered over the foliage
Those marks are fungal leaf spot and anthracnose, and they tend to appear when leaves stay damp and the air sits still inside a packed canopy. They can look alarming, yet they almost never put a settled tree at any real risk, so you can relax. Gather and dispose of the fallen leaves, keep the watering off the foliage, and your tree will move right past it.
Fix:
- Rake up and destroy fallen infected leaves
- Improve air circulation and avoid overhead wetting of foliage
- Maintain tree vigor with proper watering and fertilization
Toxicity
Here is a kind word for anyone with pets or little ones at home: eastern redbud is safe right through. It is absent from the ASPCA toxic list, nothing in it threatens an animal, and the flowers and young pods are edible enough that people happily fold them into salads. You will not find a single part of this tree that you have to keep anyone away from.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Since this tree never appears on the ASPCA toxic list, a curious cat is welcome to nibble a leaf or a dropped flower with nothing for you to fret about.
Dogs None
There is no toxin in play here, so a dog that gnaws a pod or two will be just fine; only a large mouthful of bulky pods might lead to a brief, passing loose stool.
Horses Safe
You can rest easy with grazing horses, as redbud holds no danger for them and is sometimes browsed quite happily.
Rabbits Safe
Both the leaves and the flowers are perfectly safe, and rabbits in the wild already nibble the young growth without any worry.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep may all browse the leaves and pods freely, with not a thing to be concerned about.
Birds Safe
Birds happily take the seeds and call on the spring blooms, and every bit of it is harmless to them.
People Safe
Even you can enjoy this one, since the pink spring flowers and the tender young pods are edible and find their way into salads and fritters.
No special handling required for pet safety; as with any plant, discourage pets from gorging on fallen pods, which can cause mild non-specific stomach upset from the bulk.
Varieties
Past the wild form, growers have chosen redbuds for the color of their leaves, the strength of their bloom, and a tidier size. The named kinds below are the ones you are most apt to come across when you visit a nursery.
'Forest Pansy'
Its fresh leaves unfurl a rich scarlet purple that mellows toward green as the season goes on, although that beauty comes at a cost, since this is the selection most likely to fall to verticillium wilt.
'Appalachian Red'
If you long for color, this one offers the most dazzling flowers of any redbud, a fierce magenta that edges right up toward neon pink.
'The Rising Sun'
Its young leaves arrive in shades of apricot and gold before easing into lime and green, leaving the canopy dressed in a handful of tones at the very same time.
'Hearts of Gold'
Marked out by its warm golden-yellow leaves, this one turned up by happy accident in a Greensboro, North Carolina garden in 2002.
'Ace of Hearts'
Small and neatly compact with little heart-shaped leaves, this dwarf tucks happily into a snug corner that a full-grown redbud could never manage.
How to propagate
Most new redbuds come along from seed or by grafting, since a settled tree dislikes being moved and roots only grudgingly from a cutting. None of these routes is fast, so what you really need here is a bit of patience rather than any special talent.
SeedModerate
Collect mature pods in fall; sow after pretreatment · 1-2 years to a transplantable seedling
Pick the ripe pods once fall arrives, then nick or scratch open that tough seed coat and let the seed rest through a stretch of cold, damp storage, both steps it truly needs before it will wake and sprout. Leave either one out and the sprouting turns stubborn on you. Do not let that discourage you, though, and simply plan on 1 to 2 years of patient growing before your young seedling is sturdy enough to lift and move.
GraftingDemanding
Late winter to spring (budding in summer) · 1-2 seasons
Because prized cultivars such as 'Forest Pansy' will not come true from a sown seed, growers instead bud or graft them onto a seedling rootstock. That work stretches from late winter on into spring, with the budding handled over summer, and the new union needs a season or two to knit itself firmly together. It is fussy, careful work, so feel free to leave it to seasoned hands while you build confidence.
Stem cuttingsDemanding
Early summer from softwood · Several months to a season
You are welcome to snip a few softwood cuttings in early summer and give it a go, though it helps to expect a low success rate. Redbud roots slowly and patchily this way, and even the cuttings that do catch will want several months to a full season before they settle. For that reason most gardeners lean on seed or grafting first, and there is no shame at all in following their lead.
Myths
Eastern redbud pods and seeds are dangerously poisonous to dogs and cats.
You can set this worry aside, because the ASPCA does not place eastern redbud on its toxic list, and it is regarded as safe for both cats and dogs. The blossoms and tender young pods are edible enough that people eat them too, which means this gentle tree is not the dangerous legume some gardeners imagine and does not belong among the truly harmful ones.