Nancy and I took a drive across the mountain last weekend and it’s amazing just how many redbuds there are. They are everywhere alongside of the roads and they are beautiful.
Whoever named the Redbud tree had to have been a guy. Half of us are color blind, you know, and the namer-of-redbud trees was not on top of his game. They are no more red than the man in the moon. They are bright pink, maybe, or a deep lilac or perhaps magenta, but they are definitely not red. They are, however, lovely and they are at their peak now in Central Virginia.
Redbuds are among the first of our trees to bloom.
They are not very big trees, some refer to them as a deciduous shrub.
They grow from twenty to thirty feet tall and up to 15 feet wide, and
as such, they have to fight and claw their way to find the sun’s
rays with the larger trees overshadowing. That’s why you see them
popping up along the edges of roads and fields, getting a
toehold wherever they can.
Redbuds are extremely hardy, growing from the northern tips of Florida to
as far north as minus twenty-degree territory. They are quite prolific.
The flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bees like carpenter bees and
the fruits are pea-like pods that are scattered by birds. The flowers
are totally edible. In parts of Appalachia, small, green redbud twigs are
used to season venison and possum The Indians ate redbud flowers both
raw and boiled. They are as versatile as they are beautiful – but they’re
definitely not red.
