Tri-Village Garden Club donates redbud tree to park
The Tri-Village Garden Club of Bartlett, Hanover Park and Streamwood was pleased to donate a redbud tree to the Hanover Township Runzel’s Reserve Park.
The club would like to thank Marilyn Perri, club secretary, who suggested the donation and made the contact, and Wally Groble, treasurer, who worked so hard for the plant sale fundraiser, to make it possible.
The Eastern Redbud, Cercis Canadensis, is native to the Eastern United States from Southern Ontario to Northern Florida. It does well in the Midwest and even thrives as far west as California.
In a forest setting, redbuds are understory trees. They are also prized as landscape trees and grow 20-to 30-feet tall and 26- to 33-feet wide. The blooms are tiny, pink clusters that appear before the leaves and seem to be floating on the branches.
The leaves are heart shaped, 3- to 5-inches in length and width and turn yellow in the fall. Some redbuds grow on a single trunk and others have multiple trunks like a shrub. The seeds look a bit like green beans though flatter and dry to a light brown, papery consistency.
To propagate the seeds, put them in very hot water for one minute before planting. In the Appalachians, the green twigs are used to season wild game such as venison and opossum, thus the name Spicewood tree.
A plaque will be placed at the foot of the tree indicating that it was donated by Tri-Village Garden Club.
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