What it looks like is a Redbud - hence cercidifolius. The red fall color is the main thing, if that is enough then give it a try.

I find the foliage of redbuds quite attractive, so that's certainly another plus. Does it have a lengthy fall color display? (Trying to justify putting what might be a water hog in my garden......)

Yes as I remember it the color is in effect for more than a brief time. But the shrub does need a cool and moist situation.

Disanthus cercidifolius is in the same family as fothergilla and witchhazel and shares some common features with those plants, including a relatively high resistance to pests and diseases. In my experience, the fall color is a mixture of purple, red, yellow and orange rather than plain red. While this would probably not be a problem in your climate, I found that in some years early frosts cut the foliage show short with leaves turning brown and crisp shortly after coloring. I believe there are now some named selections of disanthus, but the straight species is an interesting if unspectacular shrub even when the leaves are plain green.

It's that lovely mixture of colors that I find particularly attractive. Oh well, I think I ought to order it and try it, especially since it's related to the Fothergillas. If it doesn't work out, well, I guess I will have learned something in the process.

You're right, early frosts are not an issue in my climate. It's taken until late December to get frosty nights here, and even so, it's colder than normal for this time of year.

This is probably another plant where looking for it or asking about it in local public gardens or other collections could be quite illustrative. For starters when viewing established specimens in person you can take in aspects of their visual character you might not experience otherwise, see how this strikes you. You can also see other things like what planting site conditions appear to have suited them, how big they really do get, if they tend to accumulate and retain spent parts (one thing you pretty much never read about the much touted Asian Stewartia for instance is that these can be peppered with dead brown colored seed capsules all winter) and so on.

And you can get background information from public garden records like if they have tried a plant and what happened. Or find out what staff persons have to say about it by talking to them in person. As in "Thinking it would need the moisture we planted it in that low spot and it didn't like it so we moved it over there to the mound and it did great".

Good idea. If only I could do as you suggest. Unfortunately,. my bad back doesn't take to travel these days, so I have to rely on less direct information.

I've been strolling nurseries for many years in my area and have never come across Disanthus, so I suspect it would be happier in your Sunset Zone 5 garden than my Sunset 15 or 16 garden. Nevertheless, I've decided to order it and I am much looking forward to seeing whether it can outdo my Fothergillas and Iteas for fall color.

I've never seen one for sale around here, fyi.

Embo, I forgot to respond to your comment about the dead brown seed capsules that linger all winter in Stewartias. Too true that plant descriptions tend to focus on the most positive features. If you look up Disanthus, as I did, you will find a notable emphasis on fall color and precious little otherwise, which is why your advice is such good advice. I just wind up trying things.

As for Stewartias and those lingering brown capsules, I would not like that at all, and I assume the litter might be a negative for some too. I did a lot of googling on Stewartias when my sister was looking for a smaller tree (she finally bought a Korean Stewartia and I had a passing interest for awhile) and I don't recall it ever being mentioned. I can't wait to see if my sister comments on it :-).

Another example: I grew a Styrax japonica for many years until I decided I didn't want to put up with its seed litter and the zillions of seedlings I had to pull out every year; I've never seen that downside mentioned anywhere either.

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I find the seed capsules on Stewartias a bonus - it's one of the things that grabbed my attention the first time I saw one, before I had any awareness of them. Winter seeds/old flowerheads of various types are one of the things that break up the rather stark color scheme and silhouettes here during our several months of snow. YMMV.

Glad you commented on Stewartia seed capsules. I had pictured them hanging down and instead found a photo showing them looking quite attractively upright.

With an Asian Stewartia planted for winter bark interest a bunch of little dead-looking things being on the tree at the same time is a detraction. The above close view puts the focus on the shapes of the capsules, with the bark not even being visible.

I have three Disanthus. All planted in the wrong place and entwined with a lot of tree roots. They handle the shade and dry conditions there fairly well. I've never seen any wilting and I don't water them.

Looking west.

Mike, Nice photo, and thank you for the encouragement! This summer I had my Pin Oak pruned up and at the same time I made quite a lot of changes under its large canopy. During the process of digging things out and replanting I discovered the soil was absolutely bone dry less than an inch below the surface. In fact it actually seemed like only the mulch had any detectable moisture. Somehow my Fothergillas and Iteas and Hydrangeas et al must have been surviving primarily on having their leaves wetted by my sprinkler system on a regular basis because their roots didn't get much. I plan to water differently this summer, but my thinking has been that if my eastern natives survived on so little, perhaps the Discsanthus can too. Though I expect to give it quite a lot of extra TLC for a couple of years to get it established.

Here in Upper California we see dust every summer also. Except on water receiving sites. Or where people pour on the water.

Loropetalum is a colorful evergreen in the same family. Could have four season interest for you.

Mine has a nice mint green leaf in spring, but I'm easy to please at that time of year. Not yet mentioned I think, but in fall the leaf pattern, when changing, tends to be strongly veined with a mix of colors. It's a neat detail easily missed in photos but clearly seen in person.

Years ago now and much attracted to the foliage colors I had a purple leafed Lorapetalum in my garden, but I struggled with pruning it to keep it to size. It must have been one of the larger sorts and it quickly outgrew its space and with its branches going every which way, it didn't look that good after my attempts to prune it. I noticed recently that there are smaller cultivars available and that makes me want to try one again,

How big of a space did you give it? The typical height range is about 3-9 ft.

Sorry, this goes back years and I don't really remember how much space I gave it. I think when it wanted to be 5' - 6' wide and more I gave up on it. Regardless, my property is small and I seem to have an insatiable appetite to try new plants that catch my eye, so a plant that has overgrown its space always has some "delicious" new plant waiting to find a place. Plants have come and gone quite a lot in my garden.

I love mine. Although we are in the PNW, I have to give it a watering several times in our droughty summers. It gets partial shade and is about 10 feet tall now but with a loose, shrubby build. Fresh green in spring and summer and shades of red, gold and purple in fall, more like Parrotia Persia coloration. I have it near my kitchen window and it makes me smile....

I will forever picture you petulantly stamping your feet :-). I've been doing that same tap dance nearly every day myself, but for a different reason. I've bought a seductive plant (yes, a Discanthus) that I don't really have planting space for. Every morning for weeks I've gone out to my garden to try and figure out a place to put this plant i couldn't resist. With a garden that has no significant places left to plant, it's mostly a matter of rotation and elimination. But which ones! And now, after weeks of tap dancing indecision, the Disanthus is due to arrive via FedEx on Monday. I've bought a great big one too. Well, it's due to rain for a couple more days and the soil, now already over saturated with much needed rain, will need a week or more to dry out enough for planting, so that'll give me nearly two more weeks to figure out where to put my Disanthus.

LOL! Story of my life....HAVE to get it, and then try to figure out how / where to squeeze it in. Good luck, echo, and I'm sure you will find just the place.

I have the same problem and I've been gardening on the same 10 acres since 1978, but then again, I had that problem when I first started. ;-)

I'd never get any sleep if I had ten acres in which to obsess over my decision making challenges :-) OTOH, oh my, would i have a wonderful time with ten acres. Lucky you.

But I did find a place for my Disanthus at last!

So excited to get to plant it yesterday. We've had so much rain I had to wait for drier soil in order to plant. I did have to move an Oak Leaf Hydrangea to another site to make room, but overall good places for both plants.

A photo of a bare deciduous plant isn't very sexy but I took one anyway.

Anything bare is sexy, isn't it? ;-)

I used to be stationed at Travis AFB and go to San Francisco on time off. Loved the city!....and I'm a country person. I usually stayed with a friend who lived right across the street from Golden Gate Park, Haight-Ashbury district in the late 60s.

I see where the Sierras got a lot of rain and snow. Maybe the reservoirs will fill up.

Thanks for the big smile, Mike:-) :-). Smiles are especially welcome today as I'm having back surgery tomorrow and it will take place at UCSF whose campus is almost in Golden Gate Park. As I've just discovered, the views of SF from UCSF offices can be spectacular! San Francisco is a wonderful city to walk around in; the beautiful houses near UCSF alone are almost enough reason to visit. Too bad I rarely visit!

In spite of a much improved situation with respect to reservoirs in Northern California, just yesterday I received notice our local water company is raising rates. Again! At these rates. I really can't afford to keep watering plants. :-(

Was out in my garden checking for signs of spring and found my just planted Disanthus showing a lot of green, budding out already! Can't wait to see those pretty leaves unfurl.

Am much enjoying some sunshine after days and days of rain. And forecast shows temps venturing into low sixties for the next few days and on Thursday almost 65. That'll be nice!

I see you survived the recent deluge of rain. Don't you wish the rain was a little more spread out?

I still have remnants of snow after a lot of warm rain.

Yes I do wish it were spread out a bit more, but after years of almost no rain it feels like every drop is precious and welcome. The only negative is that I've been without my landline since Tuesday. In the days before cell phones and VOIP, it was more inconvenient. Luckily, I still have my internet connection!

i have a friend in Chehalis and she had a foot of snow on her roof!

Have collected over 4" in my rain gauge over the last 2-3 days, and before that 3.75". Amazingly rainy winter season, But it doesn't seem to be bothering my new Disanthus which is busy growing new leaves. I am so thrilled!

I see that dam up in Oroville is barely holding up.

My seasonal stream is running pretty good right now. One of these days I'm gonna plant this area. It's quite aways from the house and hard to water in the summer to get plants established. I placed the rocks there some time ago. ;-) the tree will be removed, of course. It's out of scale and will eventually dominate the area.

Gorgeous piece of property. The rocks are wonderful. You're right, the tree has to go. I'm finding it hard to imagine improving on Mother Nature, but there are definitely planting spots there. Dwarf conifers? Rock garden plants? What do you have in mind?

Sedums, Creeping Phlox, Azaleas, and some dwarf conifers. I have a few in pots that need a home and a few in other places I can use there also. I rearrange plants like other people move furniture around. :-)