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Oct 20 2005
Dwarf Redbud Print E-mail
Written by Jungle Jim   
Thursday, 20 October 2005
With today's smaller yards one of the challenges is choosing small tree like plants. Most plants we think of trees grow 20 - 30 ft tall or larger. Often in a yard that is only 15 or 20 ft wide that is just too dominating.

We can choose from some of one of the smaller Crape Myrtles, a tree-form Rose of Sharon or a Dwarf Strawberry Tree. One of my favorite trees has been some of the Redbuds. They are small trees but are often still too large.

From the US National Arboretum I noticed a new Chinese redbud introduction. Usually it takes five to ten years before it shows up in the trade. A few weeks ago Collette, our shrub buyer, noticed Don Egolf Redbud on one of our suppliers lists and brought in ten to look at and see if we can get in a few yards.

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Don Egolf redbud from the Us National Arboretum

From an article at the US National arboretum site.

"Now for the story behind the plant, the type of information which we always find fascinating and which gives the plant a little more "personality." In 1984, seed labeled as Cercis chingii was received by the shrub breeding research group, then headed by Dr. Egolf, from a botanical garden in Kunming, Yunnan, the People's Republic of China. The seed was germinated, and the seedlings were planted in the research fields on the USNA grounds for further evaluation. The late Dr. Theodore Dudley, Arboretum Research Taxonomist, then determined that the seedlings were Cercis chinensis instead of the purported C. chingii.

After 4-5 years of field testing, the research staff noted that one of the plants exhibited a fairly dwarf, slow-growing, compact habit. Additionally, it produced abundant bloom every year but had no seed pods! Preliminary propagation of this particular redbud was also promising in that it was extremely easy to root from cuttings. This redbud selection, the future cultivar 'Don Egolf', was sent for evaluation in 14 states throughout the U.S. in addition to the National Arboretum site. While under evaluation it has shown no signs of invasiveness.

I think this will be an good addition to the small tree like plant choices.




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