Hi DN

I live in the area and have a few river birches. They seem to take a few years to become established. And they do lose leaves in the heat/drought of the summer. I read they are native to wet areas such as rivers and lakes, so I think they need extra water when they are in periods of low rainfall. I don't have experience with redbud, but I believe they do well as understory tree similar to dogwood.

Okay, I'm not in the Florida panhandle but would guess we are in a pretty similar climate. My area is 8B/9, humid, sandy soil, mild winter, long summer, etc. I planted a Forest Pansy in pretty much full sun this July and it grew so much it was truly freaky. The leaves retained their purple color up until about a month ago when they turned green and some started looking ratty but that's the season, I guess.

There are several Forest Pansys planted in my area in full sun and they all seem to be doing well. In fact, one place has them planted in the medians in their parking lot and they look great.

My neighbor has one planted in the dappled shade of some pines, it has hardly grown at all in two years, and the leaves lose their purply tones. She has regular redbuds nearby that thrive in the same conditions.

I LOVE mine and so does every one else who ever sees it. To me, the dark foliage is visually refreshing mid-summer when the sun is so intense your eyeballs ache.

Try it, you'll like it!!!

Thanks guys - I'm going to give it a try, and water, water, water.