The revenge of the redbud tree

Redbud trees (cercis canadensis) are lovely additions to any yard. In the springtime they will be covered with pinky-purple flowers for several weeks. Around here, they are harbingers that winter is almost over. 

These flowers produce seed pods and these seed pods are spread, generously it would appear in our yard, by the wind and birds. 

So why the revenge? We’ve had a redbud for many years, but over time its trunk split and branches would break. It was but a skeleton of its former self and so this past fall, we had it taken out. Good-bye, redbud, we’re planting crape myrtles in your place. 

Or so we thought. The crape myrtles went in and they’re doing beautifully, one on either side of the cut-to-the-ground redbud trunk. But that was not the last of the redbud. 

It has sprouted from the trunk. Multiple sprouts. I can tell this battle to discourage it will not be over in a season. Plus, remember those seed pods? They have given us baby redbuds EVERYWHERE. 

I was cleaning out the flowerbeds this morning and spent half my time cutting them down. Occasionally, I could pull one by the roots. I should have counted. They are ubiquitous. And they’ll be back. And back. And back. 

The redbud will have its revenge on us by propagating on and on and on. If I thought it would be satisfied to have one strong descendant, I’d pick a healthy one (they are all healthy) and let it thrive. Alas, I don’t think that’s in the redbud’s plan.