Show me your redbud!

RyanSA

Yamadori
Messages
65
Reaction score
40
Location
Cradock, South Africa
USDA Zone
9b
Not the best bonsai material, I know, but surely someone has one ? I need some inspiration..
 

just.wing.it

Deadwood Head
Messages
12,141
Reaction score
17,546
Location
Just South of the Mason Dixon
USDA Zone
6B
Definitely cool trees, Cercis canadensis.

I don't recall ever seeing one as Bonsai.

When mature, they have great bark and a rugged look.
I've also seen purple leaved ones and weeping ones in landscapes.
 

Underdog

Masterpiece
Messages
2,677
Reaction score
6,873
Location
Ohio
USDA Zone
6
I love these trees. First blooms in the spring with forsythia. They stick out in the dormant brown woods of winter letting me know spring has sprung and the mushroom (morel) hunting season is off and running.
I had to try one even tho...
Mine has been confused, or I am but it keeps flowering in fall. These are all October pics. First one is 2017. I put it in a basket and into my grow bed to gain some size as it would have to be a large tree to fit the large leaves which don't reduce. It also flowers in spring like it should.
I have a long way to go before I'd call it bonsai but I do love these trees.
IMG_20171009_112352257_HDR.jpgIMG_20191030_122548974.jpg
IMG_20191030_121310711_HDR.jpg
@Frojo your soil looks a bit heavy. Do those backbud?
 

penumbra

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
9,377
Reaction score
15,841
Location
Front Royal, VA
USDA Zone
6
I love redbud, they are my favorite flowering tree. I have at least 6 cultivars. They might look good in a large pot, but I am not likely to bonsai one for reasons both stated and those not stated but obvious..
 

Underdog

Masterpiece
Messages
2,677
Reaction score
6,873
Location
Ohio
USDA Zone
6
Yes. Mine will likely end up a patio tree in a large pot.
Neighbor has a red weeping one in front her house.
 

cbroad

Omono
Messages
1,685
Reaction score
1,970
Location
Richmond, VA
USDA Zone
7a
@RyanSA
There are some dwarf shrubby cultivars that may lend themselves better for bonsai; smaller leaves and shorter internodes. They will probably be harder to find over there, but the varieties are 'Don Egolf' and 'Little Woody.'
 

penumbra

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
9,377
Reaction score
15,841
Location
Front Royal, VA
USDA Zone
6
Yes. Mine will likely end up a patio tree in a large pot.
Neighbor has a red weeping one in front her house.
I think that is the best way to use them. I live on 8 acres with no fewer than 500 redbuds, probably more including seedlings. It is a remarkable thing to see come spring. I have a weeper and 2 different red leaved but not the red leaved weeper ... yet. I also have 2 different variegated ones and a gold one.
 

Hartinez

Masterpiece
Messages
4,149
Reaction score
13,009
Location
Albuquerque, NM
USDA Zone
7
ugh. I had one one 5 or so years ago. I wish i knew then, what I know now, about Bonsai. It would have had a much better chance of survival. I think it was more lackluster winter care that did it in. It could have been something very cool at this point but alas. never saw it flower in the 2 years i had it, but the leaves mid summer were just gorgeous. Look at all those stupid rocks I've got in my pots. 279983

pictured far left
279981
 

Underdog

Masterpiece
Messages
2,677
Reaction score
6,873
Location
Ohio
USDA Zone
6
That is the best I have seen. You had a good start going there.
Has anyone else had flowering in fall?
 

Hartinez

Masterpiece
Messages
4,149
Reaction score
13,009
Location
Albuquerque, NM
USDA Zone
7
That is the best I have seen. You had a good start going there.
Has anyone else had flowering in fall?
Thank you, but I can't take credit for starting it. At a nursery in Santa Fe, NM this redbud was in a 5 gal container off to the side with a small collection of neglected but beautiful bonsai, owned by the nursery owner. It was obviously cut back hard and trained to be Bonsai years ago, and I picked it up and walked to the front to buy it. He asked for $50 bucks and I jumped all over it. Im still sad about this one.
 

sorce

Nonsense Rascal
Messages
32,908
Reaction score
45,579
Location
Berwyn, Il
USDA Zone
6.2
20190826_161944.jpg

From August. Sprouted in there, I believe next year is year 3. Kinda poorly rooted in the corner, lot of roots ran out, I yoinked it from the ground a lot to keep it from running deep. Hence the slow growth.

Of Flowers.....

They are flowering in pots at the store, but are these somehow first year cuttings or freshly potted from the ground, so they flower only once, unless back into the ground?
Can't say I know I've seen a second year one in a pot.

Of Fall...I wonder if that is not somehow another tell....

Like....

Maybe in a pot the appropriate pruning time changes?
And we end up pruning off the buds?

@Leo in N E Illinois do these self pollinate?

Sorce
 
Top Bottom