THE REDBUDS ARE BLOOMING! THE REDBUDS ARE BLOOMING

The redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are blooming.  Many of you may have notices blooms occurring on the trunk of the tree.  That is called epicormic growth.  Tree’s may respond to stress by producing epicormic growth.  I don’t mean that the trees are dealing with traffic, tax payments, illness, challenging people, or deadlines.  No, stress for a tree would be fire, frost, wind damage, disease, drought, insect defoliation, competition with other plants, and/or being stuck in a poor-quality location.  It has long been thought that increased light triggers plant hormones (yep, plants have hormones too – they just don’t make them bitchy) to release epicormic buds, allowing them to grow.  You see this when a road is put through a forest and branches start to grow on the trunks of trees that are now exposed to sunlight.  But this can’t be the full story because you find epicormic growth in some tree species that are in thick, undisturbed forests that would get little light.

Fun redbud fact:  You can eat the flowers.  Assuming your tree doesn’t get sprayed with chemicals, you can add the flowers to a salad.  I really like them in an apple salad.