More pictures

More pictures..

isnt it deciduous??? .. even in z10???

where are you???

and why is it still staked ...

its going on late fall ... shouldnt it be dropping its leaves... if so ... then there is nothing to do about it ...

also ... its rated z 5 to 9 .... if you are in 10 ... you are stretching its zone ...

i am also wondering why there is not a hint of rec in it... is it red earlier in the season ???

if not.. i wonder about the ID ... any history of it dying back to the ground ????

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

I would assume that if in zone 10, the OP is in CA. And areas with a Mediterranean type climate - like most of the west coast - tend not to follow the same dormancy patterns as the rest of the country. The two Forest Pansy redbuds just down the street from me still have most of their foliage also. But it IS red, a much more intense scarlet-orange red than the Pansy's normal wine color. The ones in the photo do look a little unusual, but I'd wait until spring to see what it looks like then before coming to conclusions about what might be wrong now.

And hardiness zones only apply to minimum winter temperatures - the lowest is the only one of significance. Never did understand why so many sources offer a range......if it is winter hardy in zone 5, it's certainly going to be winter hardy in any higher zone! Redbuds are perfectly fine in any of California's varied climates provided they have the right growing conditions.

Yes, I am in California (LA area).

It doesn't look healthy, that's for sure. Did you plant it bare-root or from a container? Do you remember anything about the root system?

Are you quite a ways inland LA? Is this a south- or west-facing location? It could be getting too much heat and sun. Looks like it is getting sufficient water, because the roses look lush and roses really can't out-compete tree roots. Forest Pansy Redbuds, I've seen quite a lot of them fail in So Cal. It's mostly an okay tree here, not nearly as good as it can be in its native area.

Gardengal, the upper zone ratings are usually an attempt to account for winter chilling requirements and/or maximum heat tolerance.

However, for reasons unbeknownst to my east coast and Midwest mind, many plants that supposedly have chilling requirements flourish in S. CA Zone 10 that fail in even zone 9 back East, even if it's just a winter chill issue.

gal... do they go dormant or not???

ken

Ken - sure they do. Just maybe not as early as they do in MI :-)

Hairmetal - the zones were not created to provide that information. They only reflect a 30 year compilation of average minimum low temps, nothing more. Even the USDA admits the hardiness zones lack any supporting data that would expand their usage to cover such thing like duration of cold periods, amount of snow cover, soil moisture, amount of winter sun, etc. In their words "Such factors are not taken into account in the USDA PHZM......All PHZMs are just guides.

The Sunset zonal maps may be much more applicable to the need to determine appropriate chill periods, as they DO take many other climate issues besides just winter lows into account and are far more detailed than the USDA zone system. But they should be takes as guides only as well. Eastern redbuds are listed as appropriately hardy for all 24 of the Sunset western climate zones, yet they certainly do not thrive in them all equally well. Most struggle up here in the PNW and tend to be short lived at best.

In my area -- about a mile from the beach in Sunset zone 24 -- there are a number of Forest Pansy Redbuds in yards and parking strips, and all are shedding leaves.

Typically the color of the leaves lightens to a dry pale orange color and then they fall. I checked the remaining leaves, and there are darker mottlings on those ready to fall. In your photo there appears to be scorch marks, but that could be due to the nature of the light, etc.

Do the leaves appear different this fall from previous years?

We have just had a lot of heat and with the drought a lot of water districts are pumping more ground water that has a higher sodium content.

The rain will probably wash some of the salts off your tree and next year hopefully it comes back great.

I am in Orange County, about 15 miles inland. The front yard is south facing, so it gets sunlight starting from the afternoon.

The tree was planted from a container. The leaves last year were in much better shape. I don't recall them having the spots I see this year.

I do not think anything is wrong at all! Normal dormancy taking place - Forest Pansy always appear stressed going dormant - fall is not one of it's best times of the year. I see nothing to worry about -fall dormancy patterns and looks change each year almost never being exactly the same.

The tree does look a little thin - on the nursery we prune back these whip like branches each year.

Fall should be one of its best times of year!
{{gwi:482478}}

But fall coloring can be extremely variable depending on the season's growing conditions. As stated previously, I wouldn't be overly worried about what I was seeing now but I would keep an eye on it next season.

Years of internet queries indicate people struggle with faltering recent plantings of red-buds all over the country. The contrast between the appearance of your tree and the underplantings suggests this tree may not take hold well under your conditions, it certainly looks poor so far. If it doesn't do better next year you might consider trying something different.

Gorgeous pic gardengal!