Unlike many people I actually like them in bush form (as well as tree form). I have both. Last fall I bought two Forest Pansy Redbuds that were only about 2' tall and shrubby and they had the most gorgeous fall color that I've ever seen on a Forest Pansy, out of this world. Why I'm asking about harsh pruning (as in close to ground) is I have one that was a tree but has had so much die back that it is a tree trunk with only one branch coming out of the trunk, not very attractive. I'm thinking I'd prefer it as a shrub vs. what it currently looks like and perhaps a harsh prune many envigorate it but before I do a harsh pruning on it (e.g., 1' from ground) I want to have some idea I wouldn't kill it. For me it is all about color of leaves, particularly fall color of leaves so whether it is in tree form or shrub form I just want great fall color. I found the comment in the book about a harsh pruning on Forest Pansy yielding best color leaves intriguing and it makes me wonder if the 2' shrub Forest Pansy Redbuds I bought this fall had out of the world fall color due to a hard pruning which left them in shrub form. The 2' ones I bought are vigorous full multitrunked sort of like a Forsythia, are not newer seedlings.

Planting distance for long term development is the same as estimated crown spread - no need to make it more complicated. If they all grow 30' wide, plant them 30' apart. One grows 20' wide, another 15' - picture each as a circle that wide on a piece of paper and space accordingly. That's if you are planting a sort of border of shrubby trees. Tree-like specimens with elevated crowns register as accent points in the landscape and should be widely spaced as otherwise a cluttered effect may result. When all the trees are the same kind they can be grouped closely together to form a grove or clump. 'Forest Pansy' does fade in hot weather, so that you end up with only the newest leaves being purple later in the season. One on a Seattle (USDA 8) street had an average crown spread of more than 30' some years ago. Native pretty consistently to hot summer climates only, redbuds need a warm situation with good drainage; many plantings have problems with dieback if not well sited.

Thanks, Carrie. I had sent a note to our Forestry agent, and here is his reply: "The best I can tell from the photos is that heartwood is exposed at the site of the split. In an effort to save the tree, the torn limb should be removed, cutting carefully to minimize the size of the wound. Pruning paint should be applied to completely cover all exposed wood. There is no guarantee this will work since heartwood is exposed. "Removal of the torn portion will leave the tree misshapen but it will be easier to manage compared to trying to tie the tree in such a manner as to attempt a natural rebinding of the wood at the site of the tear. Normally, with heartwood exposure it is only a matter of time and degree of exposure before the tree succumbs due to disease or insect invasion. "If you decide to remove the tree and replant another Forest Pansy Redbud, you may want to prune co-dominant branches to build a strong central leader."

The cultivar comes out strongly colored and then becomes less purple as the season advances. It does not leaf out green and then turn purple later. Some purple leaved tree cultivars do yield a percentage of purple seedlings but since tree cultivars are typically considered to be clonal (unlike named seed strains of flowering annuals and annual vegetables) a purple seedling of a 'Forest Pansy' would still not be an example of that same named variety. An exception is certain Rose Family trees such as mountain ashes and hawthorns that may give off apomictic seedlings, that is ones resulting from a particular asexual seed production process on the tree. Such seedlings are clones of the parent specimen. But when seeds are gathered from these trees and seedlings raised from them it is not known under ordinary circumstances if apomixis was involved until the plants raised get big enough to show they are true to type.