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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-1144
Texas Redbud
Cercis canadensis
Texas redbud is a small, glossy-leaved understorey tree that flowers directly on bare branches and even the trunk in early spring, before any leaves appear. The edible pink-purple blooms taste faintly sour and are eaten raw, pickled or fried, and the unopened buds make a caper substitute. Despite pea-shaped flowers and pods that look like a fertility legume, it does not fix nitrogen. Bees and butterflies swarm the spring bloom, but the wood is short-lived and prone to stem canker, so it is best treated as a tree replaced every couple of decades rather than a permanent fixture.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 6–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Moderate · Well-Drained
Vertical layer
Sub-Canopy- Soil pH
- 7.2
- Plant type
- Deciduous Tree
- Mature height
- 15–20 ft
- Mature spread
- 15–20 ft
- Plant spacing
- Plant
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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