Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Wait Until You See.....


.....the new redbuds coming to market in the very near future. Some friends and I took a trip to Winchester on Friday and stopped to see Harold and Alex Neubauer (all I can say about their nursery is WOW!) before heading on over to see our good friend and horticulture guru, Don Shadow. Don took the time out of his busy day to treat us to lunch and then showed us to the far corners of the nursery where the best-of-the-best called to us from across the acres. One of the most beautiful was the plant pictured here--Cercis canadensis 'Rising Sun'--with golden yellow foliage providing the perfect foil for the coppery-orange new growth and all of it (old foliage and new) highlighted with brilliant, hot pink petioles! This is my kind of plant! Flowering in spring, its blossoms will be the typical redbud color.


Just as a tease, we also saw burgundy-leafed weeping redbuds, a mottled green-and-white variegated cultivar, a weeping variegated variety and perhaps my favorite of all (except for 'Rising Sun', of course) a hybrid between 'Forest Pansy' and 'Oklahoma' that had leaves that looked like deep, dark burgundy patent leather! Shiny and almost black! Yowza! Just wait til you see what's coming!


Thanks to Don for a fun day and to Harold and Alex for inviting us into the nursery on such short notice that morning. We appreciated it very much!

5 comments:

Roses and Lilacs said...

They do sound exciting. Even tho the redbud grows in my area, I've had problems getting them thru our winters. I often have had to start over from the roots after an especially bad winter. It will be interesting to see how they rate these new ones for hardiness.
Marnie

Anonymous said...

Hi Troy~~ Thanks a lot. You've successfully transmitted a serious case of plant lust and I'm seriously infected!!! The voices keep whishpering, gimme, gimme. They're not going to let up. I'm not a patient person. Help! :]

Barry said...

Troy-
'Twas Grace that put me on to your blog.... she doesn't like to suffer alone! Wonderful post - GORGEOUS Cercis.... must check and see if we can get it here in Canada next year - my nursery customers would love it!

Unknown said...

Our nursery receieved some of these from Hawksridge Nursery this fall right before the leaves dropped off :( so it was nice to see the foliage on your site. If you haven't ever toured Hawksridge you should check it out. The last time I went, I drooled myself silly! http://plantfreak2002.blogspot.com/2008/10/visit-to-hawksridge.html

Robert Kerns said...

I've also seen these trees at Shadow's Nursery and at Jackson Nursery in TN. This tree has outperfomed all other golden selections I've tested. As long as it has moisture it will continue to flush new tangerine leaves on pink leaf petioles thru spring and summer. The leaves progress to gold and then green w/ gold splashes. It has enough chlorophyl to sustain itself thru hot summers in Oklahoma. Amazing color! Garden Debut.com and jacksonnursery.net have some amazing photos of the trees. Greenleaf Nursery Co has trees for sale this fall in NC and OK. This is the most exciting ornamental tree I've seen in 20 years.

Robert