Heart-shaped boxes bursting with chocolates are no match for the year-round love you can share by gifting and planting love-inspired trees. Redbuds and dogwoods speak the language of love, thanks to the heart-pounding beauty of their flowers and foliage and aided by the romance-inspired names of several special cultivars we grow.
In addition to the swoon-worthy beauty of their bright pink to magenta flowers, the Redbuds sport heart-shaped leaves that keep on giving for a lifetime by turning sunshine and CO2 into heart-healthy oxygen.
What’s in a name? Heart’s Desire® and Pink Heartbreaker Redbuds, Venus® and Heart Throb® Dogwoods are graced with love-themed names. Be inspired by the horticultural tryst that gave rise to Pink Pom Poms Redbud and add a toast to romance in the form of Merlot Redbud. All of these unique and lovable garden trees live up to their names in beauty and performance and are perfect gifts for plant lovers.
Look for these at your favorite garden center and have a Happy Valentine’s Day!
Heart's Desire™ Redbud
Cercis canadensis ‘UMN7101’
At last, Northern gardeners can bask in the lovely beauty and shade of a Northern-hardy redbud. Originating from an open-pollinated seedling growing at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, this new offering has proven hardy through USDA Zone 4 via 40+ years of trial.
This exceptionally hardy introduction of the University of Minnesota welcomes spring with a profusion of lavender pink blooms. Its stunning display of flowers is a welcome sight after the long, dark days of winter. Rounded and spreading in form, its mature height and spread are approximately 15’ x 20’.
Pink Heartbreaker Redbud
Cercis canadensis ‘Pink Heartbreaker’ PP 23043
Densely packed clusters of lavender pink flowers tumble like the tears of a jilted lover as they emerge from winter-bare branches and cling tightly to its cascading limbs. Spring growth flushes red as heart-shaped leaves emerge. Light green foliage matures to dark green and turns bright yellow in autumn. Form is wider and spreading and more irregular in branch habit than the well-known and widely planted Lavender Twist®. Mature height and spread are approximately 12’ x 8’.
Venus® Dogwood
Cornus (kousa×nuttallii)×kousa ‘KN 30-8’ PP 16309
Named for the goddess of love, Venus® Dogwood welcomes spring with white flowers that are downright voluptuous in number and size, with some exceeding six inches in diameter. Even its deep green foliage is seductive when it turns to bright tones of purple and red in autumn.
Nearly sterile, this exotic hybrid bears little fruit to no fruit. A hybrid of our Pacific Northwest native dogwood (C. nuttallii) and Chinese Dogwood (C. kousa), it is anthracnose and mildew resistant. Form is upright and spreading as it reaches a mature height of 25’ and spread of approximately 20’. Hardy through USDA Zone 5b.
Heart Throb® Dogwood
Cornus kousa ‘Schmred’
Be still thy beating heart, when a bountiful crop of bright rose-pink blooms appears among the dark green leaves of this lovely selection of Chinese dogwood. Formed by bracts and reaching up to four inches in diameter, the flowers last as long as two months here in Oregon, where it was selected and introduced by the late Jim Schmidt of Don Schmidt Nursery.
Attractive dark green foliage turns deep red in the fall, when red fruits of about 3/4” diameter also provide seasonal interest. Mature height and spread are approximately 20’ x 20’. Hardiness is USDA Zone 5.
Pink Pom Poms Redbud
Cercis canadensis ‘Pink Pom Poms’ PP 27630
What’s not to love about the double-barreled color blast of bright pink, double blooms? This love child of ‘Oklahoma’ x ‘Flame’ offers deep green, heat-resistant foliage like that of its ‘OK’ parent. Like its double-flowered ‘Flame’ parent, it is sterile and therefore produces no seed pods.
Hardy through USDA Zone 6b, it matures to a height and spread of about 20’ x 15’. Hybridized by Dr. Dennis Werner of NCSU, the large, bright pink, double blooms of this unique cultivar set hearts afire in springtime as they smother its upright, symmetrical branches.
Merlot Redbud
Cercis canadensis ‘Merlot’ PP 23043
Raise a glass to love and the beauty of Merlot! A garden tryst between our beloved purple-foliaged Forest Pansy and the tough, heat-tolerant Texas White Redbud produced this lovable offspring that bears striking magenta-rose flowers in spring. Sporting deep purple foliage that is glossier, thicker and more heat and drought tolerant than that of the ever-popular Forest Pansy, it’s a good choice for warmer climates.
Developed by Dr. Dennis Werner of North Carolina State University, its compact, upright growth habit and tough character makes it a great fit for urban gardens and streetscapes. Mature height and spread are about 18’ x 20’. USDA Zone 6 hardiness.
Gardeners! Please note that our nursery is strictly wholesale. To purchase these and other trees grown by our nursery, please use our Retailer Locator to find sources of JFS trees near you.
