The redbuds are blooming in Columbia. These small trees, festooned with pink-purple flowers, are used as ornamentals throughout the eastern U.S. In the wild, redbuds are understory trees and are generally found along wood margins, in glades and on rocky hillsides.
Redbuds are a member of the legume family which includes many herbs (lupine, bluebonnets, clover), vines (wisteria, kudzu), crops (alfalfa, peas, beans, peanuts), shrubs and trees. Most of the legumes have nitrogen fixing bacteria in their root system, which help to enrich the soil, and nearly all produce elongated seed pods. The numerous seed pods of the redbud can be a nuisance for the homeowner and often produce weed-like seedlings in every nearby flowerbed.
Other legume trees include the acacias, mesquite and paloverde trees of the desert Southwest, Kentucky coffeetrees, mimosa, black locusts and honeylocusts. Most of these trees are drought tolerant and the latter two grow especially well on our farm in the semiarid climate of the Colorado Front Range.
