a picture would sure get you more precise assistance .. imo.. ken

Cercis has such poor structure that I would think that pollarding one would be difficult at best. And lots of work. I like bostedo's idea.

im still not sure anything radical need be done.. other than properly cutting the broken part ... relying only on OPs words ....

btw .. you said it might be fun ... well then.. plant a second off a bit.. and go to town on this one ...

no one ever learned anything by not trying .. have fun learning ... and so what if you fail ... regardless keep us posted.. we like to learn new things also ...

ken

I have seen it done with some of the colorful-leaved cultivars, and it is an ok look. The only problem is the lack of flowers (assuming you pollard correctly). I suppose you could cut it back each year after bloom, like I suggested on a thread a while back on paulownias. I would like to see how it turns out as well, because I may attempt this in the future (I planted one in a somewhat confined space).

Why on earth would you do it? Pollarding is a technique that was practiced for practical reasons (needing the water sprouts). It doesn't really make any sense aesthetically, although it is done sometimes because of space limitations. But it's not a very attractive style, and redbuds seem particularly unsuited to it.

That's what I was saying. It's in a confined space and I may do that to keep it a bit smaller than it would normally get.

A redbud? It has bad structure to begin with. It's an understory tree that in its native environment is open and reasonably graceful. In full sun, as most are grown, it is full of crossing branches and awkward architecture. if it's in a place that's too small, take it out and put in something else. This is not a good candidate for aesthetic pruning.

It has space, but it will overhang a roof. I want to keep it in this space, and I am willing to experiment with pruning. If it dies, it dies. If it ruins it, I'll take it out. No big deal.

I had a red bud that broke a foot up from the ground and it grew again.

Lime - no problem...but cercis...with spiky twiggy stuff sprouting out from all over....I don't think so. Stooling would be my solution.