I saw some tubbed ones in bloom at Sky ("The Gardener's Garden Store") last year. Quite a different effect, if you want the bright cloud of bloom look I doubt this is the one for the job. TREES OF SEATTLE says (in part):

"Extremely rare in its native China; equally rare in cultivation; at least one Seattle garden has a youngster, and it is now in local nurseries."

Here is a link that might be useful: TREES OF SEATTLE

I've been trying to find cercis racemosa! Can you tell me where it's available? Any mail order nurseries? Thanks for any info!

Don't know where you are, but I saw some at Florabundance yesterday. Think it was probably Cloud Mountain Farm. If you can't make the sale/they have been sold maybe there are still some in stock at the nursery, near Bellingham, WA. The ones at the sale are/were one gallon pot size.

I found some at Portland Nursery on Stark in Portland -- they mentioned they usually sell out before they bloom. If you google it, you'll probably come up with nurseries from which you can mail order it, too.

I know this post is old, but Forestfarm has them.

My comments may not be much help to you in the Pacific Northwest, but here goes. I obtained a very small seedling of Cercis racemosa from Heronswood in 1996. It was very slow to establish and first bloomed for me in 2002. It is now about 20' tall and blooms reliably every year. I am quite fond of this specimen, but few people who see it in my garden are as impressed with it as I am.

Unlike the native C. canadensis, it blooms AFTER the foliage has emerged, so its impact is somewhat subdued. The color is much paler than the typical redbud.

My specimen routinely sets seedpods, which turn a subtle shade of burgandy by early summer and persist into fall. I was advised by a specialist at the National Arboretum that Cersis is generally considered to be self-sterile. I have 'Forest Pansy' and a pale pink collected specimen of C. canadensis growing nearby, however they both peak a little earlier than C. racemosa. I have not seen any seedlings at the base of the tree, but I understand that germination is somewhat unpredictable. If I ever get seedlings, I'm no sure what they will be.

Unlike C. canadensis, by early September C. racemosa sets easily visible buds for spring bloom. They appear like a rigid catkin. In severe winters many of the buds are killed, but bloom is adequate.

I know of several people who have tried to cultivate C. racemosa and all have failed. I would not suggest that I have any special talent. I suspect that it is related to the size of the specimen that I acquired. It was less than 12" tall and 1/4" in diameter.

When I first moved here, I was homesick for the Missouri redbuds (there were literally no redbuds growing in Boise at the time), so I ordered a cercis canadensis from Wayside Gardens. This was several years ago, and now there are lots and lots of other redbuds planted as ornamentals around town. I have noticed that many of these freely produce unattractive seedpods that hang on the trees for months and months. My own redbud forms few if any seedpods, and I consider this to be a great advantage. I do not know whether c. canadensis is less fertile than the other types of redbud growing around town and has a natural tendency to produce fewer seedpods (I think that some of the others are in fact a different kind, since they flower after the leaves appear); or whether c. canadensis is self-infertile and simply has no other redbuds within close enough range to pollinate it. The reason this concerns me is that I would really like to buy a 'Forest Pansy' redbud to add to my garden, but I am concerned that having another redbud nearby might cause some cross-fertilization and cause my established tree to begin producing loads of ugly seedpods. Any comments or advice? :)

That cultivar doesn't seem to fruit much in Seattle area.