Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
← Explore Plants
Plant · P-065
Eastern Redbud
Cercis canadensis
Eastern Redbud lights up bare branches with pink flowers from March through May, ahead of leaf-out, putting a full tree of nectar into the gap when bumble bee queens have almost nothing else open. The flowers themselves are edible - tart, high in vitamin C, good raw or pickled - and the unopened buds work as a caper substitute. Despite belonging to the legume family, it does not fix nitrogen at all. It is a true understory tree of rich woods and stream ravines, so it takes afternoon shade in a hot summer as a benefit rather than a bare tolerance, and it dislikes both wet clay and drought equally.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun · Shade
- USDA zone
- USDA 4–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Sub-Canopy- Soil pH
- 5.5–8
- Plant type
- Deciduous Tree
- Mature height
- 15–30 ft
- Mature spread
- 25–35 ft
- Plant spacing
- 24–60 ft
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Both
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Allegheny Chinquapin
Castanea pumila
Allegheny Chinquapin is a chestnut that grows as a spreading, thicket-forming shrub instead of a single trunk, sending up new stems from…
Sub-Canopy · USDA 5–9
Allegheny Serviceberry
Amelanchier laevis
Allegheny Serviceberry is a multi-trunked small tree grown mainly for its sweet, iron-and-copper-rich berries, up to 18 millimeters across,…
Sub-Canopy · USDA 4–8
American Hornbeam
Carpinus caroliniana
American Hornbeam is a small, iron-hard-wooded understory tree native to shaded, permanently moist stream margins across the eastern half of…
Sub-Canopy · USDA 3–9
Ashe Juniper
Juniperus ashei
Ashe juniper is a slow-growing, densely branched evergreen conifer of rocky, limestone canyons and outcrops, capable of living two to three…
Sub-Canopy · USDA 6–9
Banana Plantain
Musa balbisiana
This is a wild, heavily seeded banana from eastern and south Asian forests, not a true plantain - most cooking plantains are hybrids that…
Sub-Canopy · USDA 8–11
Bay Laurel
Laurus nobilis
Dioecious and slow from seed with erratic germination so propagation is by half-ripe cuttings or air-layering. Stays where planted with no…
Sub-Canopy · USDA 8–10
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference