they sure do grow like weeds .... congrats ...

ken

Very impressive for only 3 years growth!

Only three seasons, that must be some kind of record for early blooming tree. How long does it take for an oak tree? 25 years?

Looks good!

We just got a foot of snow last week with more forecast Mon/Tues... Sheesh.

What's a red bud? :-))

Red Bud in full bloom in SW Missouri

Very common here, but I appreciate it more & more. Flowering dogwood used to be the king of small, spring-flowering trees but redbud has taken over that role -- at least in areas I'm in. Whole mountainsides can be covered w/it (in the understory).

I never realized until this year that redbud trees can live in my climate zone (4). But better late than never I have purchased a couple redbud seedlings to plant this spring. I hope they will do as well as the OP's tree.

Wish I could have one but even if they are quite cold hardy they also demand really warm summers, even more so than most other eastern US trees. Not a good tree for an oceanic climate

Red buds with Lavender flowers?

Yes, and Red Buds with white flowers. :)

Huggorm,

I wonder if the rare Cercis glabra would do better in the North European climate. it is found in Yunnan at up to 1900m elevation. BTW I've wondered, what is a "Huggorm" in your language?

Love that picture beng, as I'm a fan of trees, trains, and mountain scenery! All of which we have a bit of in Cecil County - not true mountains of course, but steep hillsides, cliffs, and ravines in many areas. I couldn't have settled somewhere that was board flat for miles like the lower Delmarva peninsula..I find it strangely unnerving LOL.

I guess I have seen Reb Buds before, while traveling. Just didn't know what they were. :) Yeah, nice pic!

I like the mountains and hills also. I don't feel comfortable where the ground is flat for miles and miles.

The first time I saw Cercis canadensis blooming was in Missouri during a cross country trip.

Huggorm,

I wonder if the rare Cercis glabra would do better in the North
European climate. it is found in Yunnan at up to 1900m elevation. BTW
I've wondered, what is a "Huggorm" in your language?

Never even heard about that species but I will try to get one. Asian species often do better here even if they come from a climate similar to that of eastern US.

Huggorm is viper in the scandinavian languages, it sounds ridiculous as a user name so I'm using it just for the fun of that.

Anyone know how freeze sensitive redbuds at this stage are? They have advanced slightly since this pic, and we could see mid-20s F tomorrow night.

Hair, if they haven't opened, they should be OK. Huggorm, viper would have been cool, too.

The one I had has seen colder temps than that when the buds where already open and didn't effect them all that much.

You need to share your secrets with getting that much caliper that high up in the tree for a 3 year old from seed!

"You need to share your secrets with getting that much caliper that high up in the tree for a 3 year old from seed!"

I've asked him the same question before. He does fertilize, and perhaps somewhat generously for certain plants. And I think for some plants it's fine, it makes sense to help them size up. Any wholesale nursery is doing the same thing...it's not like I'm saying this is 'wrong'. Just don't do it something like a camellia though, and expect it to be winter hardy...as the oft-repeated (by me!) tale about the same cultivar of camellia that survived PV-I just fine for me, but was killed outright at Longwood. Could not even come back from the roots.

It’s about 5’ tall, 1” caliper at the base.

I use Dynamite CRF fertilizer in a bark/promix media blend. It’s a modified 5-1-1 that is more peaty due to the fast drying nature of the fabric root pruning pots I use.

If I use too much fertilizer I get leggy growth not caliper. The pic is a little deceiving as it looks like a 1" caliper up top there.

I'll have to check out Dynamite CRF and have use the blend you've mentioned.

Redbud isn't native in my local area, but is often planted here. However, other parts of southern Michigan may have the northernmost native redbuds (except possibly extreme SW Wisconsin?). Seedlings I've planted have grown very quickly. Late freezes can sometimes damage the young foliage, as was the case in my yard just last year (9 May). Redbud native range

Tangentially, Huggorm's post prompted me to do a little research, and here's an interesting factoid: the European Viper is the only species of snake that occurs above the Arctic Circle. I would not have expected any snakes that far north.

Whaas it’s more like 2/3” up there, that’s about 36” up.

The beauty of species trees. I feel like these grafted plants being overgrow in small containers just slows everything down.

The flowers look nice against blue spruce!

Only got to 31F after all.

Yeah I feel like we dodged a bullet, no hard freeze here either because my Gresham magnolias are about to open flowers; it seems they only have freeze resistance as long as the furry sheath is covering the petals.

Forecast is FINALLY freeze free for 10 days - not that that should or does mean much in an awful spring like this one - so I might have one of my biggest planting days ever. At least 15-20 camellias and various other BLEs have to come out of the garage and go somewhere. I've got a ton of 'incomings' from PNW mail order nurseries, I decided it would be a big year for experimental perennials like this: Edelweiss Perennials. Helichrysum bellum

Another cold wave coming in about a week. So cold here that nothing has progressed except daffodils, dandelions and cold-weather grass. Actually not a bad thing from the viewpoint of stuff getting out too early.

We had 5f again last night. mid 20's highs. Usually this time of year, I'm putting plants out on the deck during the day, acclimating them to real sun.

Actually it doesn’t look too bad - close to 80 by Friday, a bit cooler again next week, but nothing like this weekend.

We need some RAIN though!!! Not much of any in the forecast, except next Sunday might turn into something. We haven’t had significant precipitation since the March 21 snowstorm.