Redbud is at its peak this week. Although it looks like a flower, the pink is actually the leaf bud. And when the leaves are fully out, the tree is green like any other tree and not very attractive. It’s a spindly, weak and unhealthy-looking tree. That same spindliness is attractive when the tree is in its pink phase, but not very for the rest of the year.
Redbud also prefer the edges of the forest and are inclined to grow in poor soil where nothing much else is happy. I’ve often wondered how many trees are cut down simply because people are culling weeds and “improving” the edges of their property and don’t realize that the spindly, unhealthy-looking tree they just cut down shows beautiful color for a week or two in spring.
The spindliness makes for interesting shapes when the twiggy branches are covered with pink buds. Unfortunately, the rest of the time the tree just looks spindly. I found it difficult to photograph a redbud among the rest of the forest trees. The rest of the photo always contained water pipes or other detritus from Roundtop. If there was junk around, there was a redbud behind it. The tree just prefers spots that other trees won’t grow in.
Posts
6 comments:
So beautiful when they are pink. They grow in Toronto but - although I am about 45 minutes north of the city - it's too cold here.
It's primo redbud time here, further east, too, Carolyn. I agree with everything you've said about the tree; unless it's in flower, it's not particularly attractive and easy to overlook.
It's redbud time in KC too, though by next week they will have peaked and the dogwoods will have come out.
Redbud is gorgeous in its pink phase, and occasionally the redbud is still hanging on when the dogwood blooms, and then the forest is especially beautiful--all pink and white. That doesn't happen every year as it's more common for the redbud to be done at the time the dogwood blooms.
Scott: I know I spent years overlooking the tree in its green phase after I first moved to Roundtop. It took me a while to realize that "ugly" tree was the same as the gorgeous one that bloomed in spring. And I think it was looking at photos that finally convinced me they were one and the same!
Pablo: Do you ever get years down your way where the redbud and dogwood are blooming at the same time? That happens here sometimes but not always.
Post a Comment