Once you get to Cercis canandensis that just gets you into the family tree. The newer, more decorative redbuds are specialized varieties coming from that family line, but with something extra. Most of the fancy varieties are now produced by graft, which includes Forest Pansy, best color with more sunlight, Silver Cloud, the varigated variey, truly lovely, Hearts of Gold, my new must have tree, and of course the weeping redbuds, Traveller, Covey, and Lilac Twist. These were all freaks of nature discovered among masses of seedlings, each one a one of a kind tree. All propagation is by grafting, and they are patented. Forest Pansy doesn't really show/grow much in the way of seed pods, and any I have seen are definiely sterile, a fraction of a normal seed pods in both size and number, despite the fact that you will find people on Ebay supposedly selling that seed. Same goes for Lavender Twist. My full grown tree is several years old and has never had a seed pod. Wild grown trees, on the other hand, got where they are by seed distributed however. That said, I have never been able to get a redbud seed to germinate. Have tried all the tricks I know, with no luck. I am guessing it requires some mix of freeze/thaw cycles to stimulate germination. Seedlings are almost always found in an undisturbed area - among ground cover, low growing conifers, etc., but I have never seen one just pop up in a yard without these features. As for the pods, they are not a problem, in that birds and other small creatures carry them off for food. Since I am sure that you mow regularly, you should not see any mass germinations of redbud to contend with. Redbuds are so graceful, with the outstretched branches and heart shaped leaves, that I would risk almost any negative to have them at my house. Happy gardening!

I am not in your zone, but I do love redbuds and have several varieties. I love Forest Pansy, but should disclose that without a fair amount of sun it just turns into dark, not red, leaves, similar to many of the Japanese maples. Obviously if you plant it as an understory tree like most redbuds want, the window of opportunity for really red leaves is slim, as the tree will no longer be red when the trees above it are in full leaf. Best location seems to be almost full sun if you want to keep it red. Of course, it has an oversized leaf, so that also means that it will need to be monitored more often to make sure it does not wilt down, which many of the fancies will do. I do offer up the Hearts of Gold is another newer variety that is supposed to do well out in full or almost full sunlight, with oversized leaves and the color of a golden delicious apple. What a beauty. All of these newer varieties were accidental seedlings discovered by someone who caught that they were special, many at a young age. Yes, they are patented and propagated via graft, so you are supposed to have a permit to produce more of these trees. Also, a plus for some, these guys tend to set very little, if any, seed. Lavender Twist will set less than 30 pods on an adult tree, all 25% the size of a normal pod, all sterile. I have seen seed for Forest Pansy offered on Ebay with the disclaimer that it may not breed true, but I am very suspicious that the seed may have been harvested from any branches belonging to the root parent, making it plain old redbud from the forest, but not a Forest Pansy. Don't forget some of the older varieties - Oklahoma redbud, the Texas redbud, and the weeping redbud, Traveller. Traveller is the one I want, but couldn't find at anywhere a resonable price. My Lavender Twist is similar, but not the same. A problem that I do not see addressed is predation of young trees by deer. Of course, in NJ, deer prey on most plants. They will chomp off a 2 or 3 year old tree at the base, and strip the leaves off of the lower limbs of older trees. Imagine my surprise to walk out and see a whole you could drive a car through in my Lavender Twist. They had eaten leaves, branches, twigs, everything but the trunk. I know that many do not like to hear this, but they are as bad as any noxious pest we freely kill - rats, mice, or groundhogs, for a few. So destructive, populations soaring as they have found new buffets of food as the gardeners foolishly believe that there is anything you can grow that the deer will not learn to eat. OK, that was my pet peeve for the day. Plant those redbuds, make the world a more beautiful place, one tree at a time. Happy gardening!

Since Ian Barclay occasionally reads/posts to this forum and runs a nursery in WA that specializes in water-wise gardening in the PNW, I think that his perspective is important. He sells Ribes speciosum (http://desertnorthwest.com/catalog/plants_western.html), and here is his take: "Hardy to about 10 F" "It is one of the few drought-deciduous shrubs we can grow in the Northwest." "Although native to central California, IT DOES FINE IN MILDER NORTHWEST GARDENS, occasional leaf drop notwithstanding." (my emphasis) If you have a problem with me SUGGESTING Ribes speciosum for a relatively mild climate like Portland, I can't image what you think of Ian for SELLING the plant to PNW customers. Be sure to express your displeasure the next time that he posts here.

We have two that we planted in 2000 along our western property line in a bed that is raised above a seasonal Âdry creek bed. (man-made for the occasional really wet winters.) They get almost full day sun with a 6 ft. fence to the back of them, a 50ft. tall Western Red cedar to the south, a 60ft. Douglas fir to the north and open lawns to the east. Our soil is sandy/loam. In summer, they are watered via underground sprinkler system; each has a Âbubbler head near the trunk. They are approximately 15 ft. tall now and almost as wide. We bought them for their wonderful leaf color, but IÂm not as impressed with their fall color, which is rust red. But I will say that the fall color is certainly a nice contrast to the many gold/yellow colors of surrounding trees. I have seen pictures of the wonderful blossoms on these trees, but all my redbuds (besides the two Forest PansyÂs, I have three green Cersis and a Cersis Chinensis) only have fuchsia buds in spring that open into insignificant flowers. The leaf shape and color and the interesting tree shape (more rounded) more than make up for the lack of appealing flower and fall color. Enjoy! S.