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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Eastern Redbud Can Pose Problems in Las Vegas Landscapes


Readers eastern redbud problems. It is an understory tree in the Eastern
United States and will struggle in our alkaline soils and extremes of
temperature, humidity and high light intensities. It is also planted in a
rock landscape or desert Xeriscape.
Q. I am sending you some pictures of my Eastern redbud tree. It has some problems and I want to know how to correct these.

A. The redbud problem is pretty common with the Eastern type, our soils and climate. Western Redbud is a bit more tolerant than the Eastern Redbud of our conditions and would be a preferred tree for the Western United States.

            Western redbud may not be easy to find in the nurseries but it is worth a look. Another tree that might be even a better selection for you would be the Mexican Redbud which looks very similar and would give you the same impact as the Eastern Redbud. Actually in some circles the Mexican redbud is considered a “form” or selection of the Western redbud.

Readers eastern redbud. She has put wood mulch around
the tree which is good. The water from the irrigation
will help to decompose the wood mulch and improve the
soil. Unfortunately this may not be enough for this tree
to do well.
            The problem you are seeing on the leaves, scorching and discoloration, will always be a problem with this tree in this climate and soils. Eastern redbud is an “understory tree” in the eastern part of the United States which means it does not handle full sun very well even in the cooler parts of this country.

            I usually encourage people to try something new but this is a small tree that you would have to babysit for many years to come even if you've found the right spot for it. I would encourage you to look for the Mexican redbud if this is going into a desert or rock type landscape.

          Below is a hyperlink that will take you to a site that talks about Mexican Redbud.
http://www.public.asu.edu/~camartin/plants/Plant%20html%20files/Cercis%20mexicana.JPG

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