Wild Eastern Redbud

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC

last year

I have 2 wild plants that I've been cutting down every year, but this year I let them grow to see what they were:

My plant app thinks that they're Eastern Redbud trees!

If that's true, are these going to be pretty trees, or are wild ones something different?

If they're worth keeping, when is the best time to dig them up and relocate them?

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Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
they are the dame species plant ...

if thats a small pond.. i would move it out of there.. they are very easy to move with proper timing.. heres the link.. see section one.. and that is probably right around leaf fall.. and probably all winter for you

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

the trick is.. do it when the tree is dormant.. and then you dont have to worry about losing the leaves.. and wasting energy on regenerating them ..

cersis canandensis.. or some such ...

the one i had that came with the house had a 1.5 foot trunk.. was about 18 feet tall. and 25 wide .. ergo.. it will wreck the pond in 20 years ...

it died not long after.. they are what we call.. short lived trees ...

but it did leave hundreds of seedling all over my yard.. yippee.. thats sarcasm..lol

ken
Sigrid
last year
Most wild redbuds I've seen are pretty. That said, I tend to notice pretty trees in the woods, so if there was one with brownish flowers, I wouldn't have noticed it. In general, American natives have been subject to less selection and breeding that plants native to Europe or Asia, so I'd assume that a wild redbud was likely to be pretty.
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I selected a very wild looking tree ===>>> so you bought the weirdo.. and now you worry .. whats that all about.. lol ... dad planted one at my house.. and for 3 years running... he cut it to the ground ... in the hope of getting a straight true trunk ... and it did just fine .... and he did eventually teach it a lesson ... its hard to give you any suggestion w/o a picture... but if you want a straight tree ... cut it below the first bend .. and then prune to select one prime leader ... i dont know when the best time to do that .. probably after the leaves fall off.. so that next spring... it puts all its energy into a new leader ... with no insult to the root zone.. i would expect a good 2 to 6 feet of growth by next fall ... all other things being proper ... otherwise.. ignore it.. admire it for its weirdness ... and dont worry about it.. its a tree.. it will achieve vertical growth no matter what you do about it ... but whether, once it goes vertical.. and get 15 feet tall ... how it will cope with the bends and what not.. will be left to the fates .... or to your pruning capabilities ... you can always cut out the bends then ... redbud is one hard to kill plant .... ken
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I manipulate growth pattern all the time w/plumeria and brugmansias. If you don't, you may have ugly trees that don't usually "fix" themselves. You remove the stakes eventually, it's not meant to be there forever. Yes I've had a few instances In which it was questionable whether I helped tree but few and far between. Deciduous magnolias, jap maples, redbuds benefitted from my helping along w/ a stake and or splints.
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Well, I assume that they sell them because they are so close to 3 of the Great Lakes, so that they are within 20 miles or less of water on 3 sides and within 5 miles of Lake Erie. That makes a difference since the large areas of water will buffer temperatures considerably most winters. I grew up in Cleveland, and during the really cold winter a couple of years ago, it made it down to -11F while areas farther from the lakes throughout the midwest were getting to -20F to -40F. Officially the part of Cleveland (Lake Erie shore) where I grew up is zone 6, along with many other areas of the US north coast. Similarly, where I work now is within 10 miles of the Atlantic, and although only 40 miles away, it is a full zone warmer than I am. Which is a long way to say that probably a good percent of their customers are in the equivalent of USDA zone 6. I may push zones for perennials that are usually covered by snow, but I've learned that for taller, long-lived woody plants that sooner or later a bad winter will arrive and kill parts or all of the plant. A half dead tree is pretty ugly, and though it may regrow, IME it won't recover its original shape. I love redbuds, so I looked a long time to find a MN strain tree that I figured would have a reasonable chance of living out its full life in reasonable shape in my zone.
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I was driving around the neighborhood yesterday and the redbuds were all blooming beautifully. But I did not have good luck with the redbud I bought some years ago. Had it planted by the nursery and everything. A little after the one year warranty was up, the leaves started drooping and soon it died. From the looks of it, I concluded that it died of verticillium wilt, although I guess I can't be 100% sure. Anyway no more redbuds for me. How did this turn out?
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woodrose
last year
Native Eastern Redbuds are beautiful when they bloom in the Spring, either singly or in a group. I'm surprised you haven't seen them blooming in your area. I like native trees in general, and Redbuds are a favorite of mine. Eastern Redbuds are understory trees, usually growing at the edge of an area of woods where I live. Here's a website that will tell you more:

https://www.plantingtree.com/blogs/gardening/eastern-redbud-facts
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
last year
@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5, those pics are two separate trees, and both are in VERY bad spots so I'll have to move them. They've been coming up wild for years, and I always thought it was just another greenbrier or something! LOL I could never get them to pull out, so I've just been hacking them off.

But now I've cut back a lot of wild trees and I'm bringing in smaller fruit-bearing or ornamental trees, and I was seriously about to buy an Eastern Redbud!!!! LOL It's awesome to have two of them already here :-D

@woodrose, I'm sure that I've seen them and just mistook them for something else. I'm only just now learning about trees, so I'll recognize the common wild trees (pine, oak, maple, beech, birch, and poplar) but only just now learning to recognize crape myrtles, black cherry, wild plum, witch hazel, and now Eastern Redbud :-)

So thanks for all of the info!! I guess I'll wait a few more weeks, then dig 'em up and move 'em!

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Wild Eastern Redbud

Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

Sigrid

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woodrose

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
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Wild Eastern Redbud

Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

Sigrid

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woodrose

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NCOriginal Author

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Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author