The Many Redbud Species of Shelby Avenue Arboretum

The impor­tance of the var­i­ous types of red­bud trees plant­ed in the Shel­by Avenue Arbore­tum can­not be over­stat­ed. These trees have had a rich his­to­ry through­out the east­ern and cen­tral Unit­ed States, from their uses in folk med­i­cine and pres­ence as a state tree in Okla­homa to attract­ing the atten­tion of the nation’s first president. 

More About the First Species: The East­ern Redbud

The bino­mi­al name of the east­ern red­bud is Cer­cis ​‘canaden­sis,’ which means rough­ly: a weaver’s shut­tle of Cana­da. From the Greek word ​‘kerkis,’ a shut­tle resem­bles a wood­en canoe but is used dur­ing the process of weav­ing to hold the thread. It was giv­en this name because the seed pods of the east­ern red­bud resem­ble the shape of a shut­tle, and the tree’s ori­gins are in Cana­da. The east­ern red­bud has cousins across the ocean in Europe and Asia, and it is a hardy tree that can with­stand drought and cool win­ters. As we men­tioned before, George Wash­ing­ton was fond of the tree and plant­ed many in his per­son­al gar­den. Since 1937, Okla­homa has called the east­ern red­bud its state tree. Red­buds are decid­u­ous trees, like most in the Arbore­tum, mean­ing they lose their leaves in the fall and blos­som in the spring. These buds attract a vari­ety of ben­e­fi­cial insects and pol­li­na­tors, mak­ing it the per­fect tree to have in a gar­den or around oth­er trees. 

Visu­al­ly, the east­ern red­bud is a very strik­ing tree. It has unique heart-shaped leaves that begin as a dark green and red­den as the cold months approach, becom­ing almost pur­ple. They have irreg­u­lar branch­ing and a rel­a­tive­ly broad crown for their short­er stature, mak­ing them eye-catch­ing and unique among oth­er tree species. In spring, the bud­ding leaves grow into beau­ti­ful pink, white, or pur­ple blos­soms that attract the eye and var­i­ous pol­li­na­tors. The east­ern red­bud typ­i­cal­ly grows to a height of 20 to 30 feet, with a crown that can grow about 20 feet wide. 

Inter­est­ing­ly enough, the east­ern red­bud is a rel­a­tive of the pea plant, mak­ing it unique­ly edi­ble in com­par­i­son to oth­er trees. The seed pods of the east­ern red­bud look almost iden­ti­cal to pea pods and are edi­ble. Native Amer­i­cans used the flow­ers, leaves, bark, and wood of red­bud trees in dif­fer­ent recipes and med­i­cines. The flow­ers of the red­bud are edi­ble raw, and some peo­ple take to fry­ing them light­ly before eat­ing them. The pur­port­ed health ben­e­fits of the east­ern redbud’s flow­ers, leaves, and wood include calm­ing diges­tive issues and sup­press­ing coughs from the com­mon cold. 

These trees are per­fect for Nashville and the Shel­by Avenue Arbore­tum because of their small stature and rel­a­tive drought tol­er­ance. While they are drought resis­tant when mature, young east­ern red­bud seedlings need a good amount of water­ing. Road­side arbore­tums are much eas­i­er to irri­gate than land­scap­ing because of their prox­im­i­ty to munic­i­pal water ser­vices and local vol­un­teers who assist arborists. But things don’t stop with the east­ern red­bud. There are var­i­ous cul­ti­vars or slight­ly mod­i­fied vari­eties of red­bud trees that are unique and beau­ti­ful. Let’s review some of the oth­er red­buds at the Shel­by Avenue Arboretum. 

Types of Red­buds at the Shel­by Avenue Arboretum

West­ern Redbud

Also known as the Cal­i­for­nia red­bud, the west­ern red­bud is a cul­ti­var of the east­ern red­bud that is known for its abil­i­ty to grow in the south­west­ern and west­ern Unit­ed States. Even more drought-proof than its base species, the west­ern red­bud is incred­i­bly resilient to the dry sea­son, mak­ing it a low-main­te­nance tree that pro­vides a great deal of col­or to the Shel­by Avenue Arbore­tum. The west­ern red­bud grows to be approx­i­mate­ly 12 to 20 feet tall and wide, mak­ing it a more stout tree than the east­ern red­bud. Ear­ly set­tlers used the blos­soms of the west­ern red­bud in sal­ads, and that prac­tice con­tin­ues to the present day in some places. Flower buds can be pick­led and served like capers, and the seed pods were roast­ed and eat­en. Indige­nous tribes in Cal­i­for­nia used the twigs of the west­ern red­bud to weave bas­kets and bows. Unlike some cul­ti­vars, the west­ern red­bud grew out of con­ve­nience rather than human inter­ven­tion. Some are bred to grow with spe­cif­ic char­ac­ter­is­tics, but the west­ern red­bud just devel­oped and evolved naturally. 

Texas White Redbud

The Texas white red­bud is known for its beau­ti­ful, white buds that grow in the spring. Found in Texas and oth­er south­west­ern states, this drought-resis­tant type of red­bud is adapt­able to dry soils and puts up with high tem­per­a­tures. We all know how dry some sum­mers can get in Nashville, so this is an excel­lent addi­tion to the Shel­by Avenue Arbore­tum. These trees grow rel­a­tive­ly small and are often thought of as orna­men­tal addi­tions to a land­scape. It’s more com­pact than oth­er types of red­buds, but it makes up for its small­er size with a beau­ti­ful, creamy white bloom in the spring. The heart-shaped glossy leaves of the Texas white are also a very dark green like oth­er red­buds and turn a nice yel­low col­or in the fall as things cool off. They can be expect­ed to grow about 20 feet tall and 20 feet wide, with a nice low canopy. This makes the tree great for plant­i­ng along­side roads, as it will not make con­tact with pow­er lines. Much like oth­er red­bud trees, you can’t expect them to live for cen­turies, but many live for rough­ly six­ty years when well-maintained.

Ris­ing Sun Redbud

The ris­ing sun red­bud is a cul­ti­var of the red­bud tree that was actu­al­ly dis­cov­ered and named in Ten­nessee. This tree is named for its diverse leaf col­ors in the fall, rang­ing from green to apri­cot and yel­low in the fall. The ris­ing sun red­bud only grows to a height of 10 – 12 feet, so it’s anoth­er small red­bud vari­ety. The ris­ing sun red­bud has a round, shrub­by shape and is incred­i­bly drought tol­er­ant. The flow­ers of the ris­ing sun red­bud are a pink, fuschia col­or and are high in vit­a­min C. Much like oth­er red­buds, the flow­ers and seed pods can be pick­led or cooked and served with sal­ads or eat­en on their own. 

Car­oli­na Sweet­heart® Redbud

This cul­ti­var, the Car­oli­na sweet­heart red­bud, is known for its very dark pur­ple, heart-shaped leaves that devel­op shades of pink, green, and white as the sea­son goes on. The flow­ers on this red­bud tree are pink like many oth­er red­buds. The seeds of this cul­ti­var were first col­lect­ed back in 2004, with the best results being cho­sen in 2009. These are now the descen­dants of all Car­oli­na sweet­heart trees. Like oth­er red­buds, these trees grow to be about 15 – 20 feet tall and can devel­op a canopy that’s up to 25 feet wide.

Flame Throw­er® Redbud

Per­haps the coolest named red­bud, the flame throw­er is a cul­ti­var that is noto­ri­ous for its mul­ti-col­ored foliage that resem­bles the col­ors in a flame. It won first place for Plant of the Year at the 2021 Roy­al Hor­ti­cul­tur­al Society’s Chelsea Flower Show. Much like its cousin the Car­oli­na sweet­heart, the flame throw­er red­bud was dis­cov­ered and bred in North Car­oli­na. They are adapt­able to many soil types and can tol­er­ate the dry sea­son well. Their flow­ers bloom in a beau­ti­ful purple/​pink col­or every spring, which adds to the kalei­do­scop­ic beau­ty of its many col­ors. There can be up to five or six col­ors on one branch, and they only get more beau­ti­ful as fall approach­es. As for their height, the flame throw­er red­bud is very aver­age among its peers, grow­ing to a height and canopy width of 15 – 20 feet. 

Bur­gundy Hearts® Redbud

The bur­gundy hearts red­bud has a name fit for a romance nov­el and the beau­ty to match. Reach­ing a height of 25 feet and a canopy width of 30 feet, these siz­able trees will daz­zle with deep red and pur­ple col­ored heart-shaped leaves that start a leath­ery green and dark­en to a unique bur­gundy col­or as they age. The blos­soms usu­al­ly start out as a fuschia col­or and were dis­cov­ered and then cul­ti­vat­ed in Okla­homa, where the east­ern red­bud is famous­ly the state tree. These trees are not as drought resis­tant as oth­er red­buds, but they are unique­ly tol­er­ant to pol­lu­tion. This makes it a per­fect tree to grow in cities and urban areas where envi­ron­men­tal fac­tors are hard­er to con­trol. Native Amer­i­cans and ear­ly set­tlers used the twigs of red­bud trees to pro­duce a yel­low-col­ored dye.

Alley Cat Redbud

Round­ing out the list of the eight dif­fer­ent types of red­bud trees you can find at the Shel­by Avenue Arbore­tum is the alley cat red­bud. This red­bud tree can grow 20 – 30 feet tall, with a spread that is slight­ly larg­er, giv­ing them a unique oval shape that makes them stand out among the oth­ers. In spring, the alley cat has pur­ple, pink­ish flow­ers that give way to green-white foliage that yel­lows in the fall. They were dis­cov­ered in Ken­tucky and are well-adapt­ed to life in the South and Midwest. 

Red­buds are some of the most visu­al­ly strik­ing trees that can be found at the Shel­by Avenue Arbore­tum. From their unique dis­tri­b­u­tion of branch­es to their heart-shaped leaves and bright-col­ored blos­soms, they pro­vide year-round beau­ty to the Nashville neigh­bor­hoods they call home. Inter­est­ed in learn­ing more about the Shel­by Avenue Arbore­tum project? Give us a call or send an email our way today!