I've got a few in my garden that I WSed some years back, I think mine are Ohio RedBuds, but I think Easter should sprout just as well.

I successfully wintersowed them a few years ago - I had 3 sprouts which are now small trees.

Becky

Oh fooey, guess I forgot to hit submit or something. Winter sowing will probably work but this method was about as fast and easy as it gets.

I spring sowed some 3 years ago in a shallow, covered container after danger of frost was past placed in the shade. I had just picked the pods off the neighbor's tree. I dried them out, cracked the shells open, let them dry a bit more, then rubbed them with medium sandpaper 20X, planted as above, placed in the shade. The seeds were covered with about 1/4" potting soil. They germinated in less than 2 weeks.

I got 27 sprouts or more, transplanted them into 2-liter soda bottles, top part with cap cut off, placed on the east side of the house.

They were doing fine but took a beating when the house was painted. Then when fall came, I was too tired to plunge them all into the ground and lost them that winter.

They take 7 years from seed to bloom. I learned about the sandpaper trick (don't go past the outer covering), the bloom time, and plunging them into the ground on another forum.

If I had to do it again, I'd do the same thing except either start in the 2-liter bottles or plastic cups with baggies.

This photo was taken April 24, 2007, I picked off these very pods a day or two later and others off the ground from that tree and another neighbor's close by and had them dried and planted within a week or little more.

The seeds sometimes take a long time in nature because the outer shell is so hard, like a couple years or more but I have found volunteers around the yard now that I know what the leaves look like.

{{gwi:351184}}

these things germinate ALL OVER my yard, I wouldnt worry about it at all.

I would be careful about storing the seeds indoors tho, they they these little bugs...... they are kinda the shape of ticks but way bigger and they arent ticks......

Well, I'll try germinating them, but with the seven year window, I may just end up getting them a sapling to enjoy sooner, then later when the twins they're expecting will be seven!

(Just like jaws, except it's not "we need a bigger boat"..it's "we need a bigger house!")

That might be a good plan. I've still got some seeds left from that year and bet they're ok, may try them like B4. Never saw any bugs, and I'd see them in the plastic container they're stored in.

I can see how bug could drill into the pods and eggs laid but hard to imagine how they'd get into or attach themselves to the seeds, maybe so.

Hopefully the 7-year wait may not really be that much but got my info from a person who had done what I described, only plunged his into the ground for the winter; his came back the following spring.

He did have multiple plants in one juice container. I didn't want to have to try to separate them.

I love those beautiful trees, always nice to see 3 different neighbors' ones bloom from my window and when I'm in the yard.