By PETER S. FERRARA<br>Record Columnist
April 23, 2008 10:26 am
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You wouldn’t think that just looking at a tree could lift your spirits, but the annual spring blossoming of the Redbud does exactly that.
What is it about this particular early-bloomer that causes people to stop, stare at them, and be somehow encouraged? Is it their unique color? Or could it be their delicate shape? Perhaps it is just that they are among the first to brightly paint the landscape after a long, bleak winter. Whatever the reason, one of the things many of us have in common is our love for this unusually inspiring creation of Nature.
I had never seen a Redbud before coming into this area some twenty-five years ago. The sight of all these spindly little trees (or are they shrubs?) suddenly bursting into bloom in late March and early April was and continues to be a very pleasant surprise. It is as though the Redbuds are telling us to take heart, winter’s over, brighter days lie just ahead.
Their color is the first thing that hits you. Redbuds are not red. They are more in the lavender, pinkish-purple, magenta mode. Yet we don’t call them “purple buds.” Purple buds sounds like a medical condition.
“I’m sorry to tell you,” I could almost hear a doctor say, “but I’m afraid you have purple buds.”
“Purple buds? Is it serious?” the nervous patient asks.
“Well, I can take them off but it may be painful.”
“What if we just leave them alone?”
“Then they will spread and you will turn---”
“Purple. Okay, Doc, you better take them off.”
What Redbuds are is a variety of small tree or large shrub.
There are ten different species of them, five in Asia and Europe and five in North America. The Latin name for their genus-- or kind-- is “Cercis.”
Our local variety is called Eastern Redbud, or Cercis Canadensis. While it may look fragile, this Redbud is actually pretty hardy and grows from southern Canada to Alabama and out to Texas. Its flowers have been used in salads and for making pickled relish. Native Americans discovered that the inner bark of its twigs gives a yellow dye.
Beyond whatever use humans have learned to make of the Redbud,
this tree’s main contribution is its beauty. To be driving along and suddenly see a series of these trees growing in clusters beside the road is really breathtaking.
Five years ago, I bought a spindly little Redbud up at Lowe’s for five dollars. They were on a close-out sale and having always admired them I thought at that price I had little to lose. So I asked my friend Tim Taylor about planting my Redbud. Tim is a retired University of Kentucky professor of agronomy who is a wealth of information on growing things. He suggested planting the tree near the road that runs by our house, preferably down below the roadway where the minerals that leach out from the limestone gravel of the road bed can nourish the tree. Tim said that this flow of nutrients is why you see Redbuds by the road but not far back into the woods.
Following his advice, I planted my tree without really thinking that such a puny little thing would ever really grow. But to my surprise, just a few years later I have a magnificent tree which has grown to almost twenty feet in height and has developed a complex set of interwoven trunks which are very large and sturdy. The Redbud just seems to want to grow and thrive in the harshest conditions. That stubborn zest for life, along with its spectacular color, is why we love this tree. If you live close to a road with a gravel bed, plant one and enjoy the results. Some of my best “Bud’s” are Redbuds.
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McCreary County Record