Monday, March 30, 2020

Day 15: color explodes




BREAKING NEWS!

Color has exploded outside! And we are still socially isolated inside? I know. Bummer. But just so you know. Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) is now in bloom throughout the Tennessee Valley. Considered either a tall shrub or a short tree—you can decide that one—the light to dark magenta flowers appear before the heart-shaped leaves.

Found throughout the Southeast, with Tennessee being at the center of its range, redbud is the first blast of intense color to explode in Appalachia. Found naturally in the understory of mixed forests and along hedgerows of farmland, redbud makes an excellent native landscape ornamental.


And if you look closely at the top photo, you will see the flowers do not form at the tips of the branches as do most flowering trees, instead, they are "cauliflory." [Great new Scrabble word in case you dust off your set for a game later this evening.] It means they bloom along their stems and branches. Neat trick.




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