Beribboned, 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, especially those with romantic names and heart-shaped leaves, speak the language of love. Catalpa and Chitalpa also join the chorus with their pretty pink and white flowers and heart-shaped foliage. In all cases, their leaves keep giving for a lifetime by turning sunshine and CO2 into heart-healthy oxygen.
The following unique and lovable garden trees live up to their names in beauty and performance and are perfect gifts for plant lovers on Valentine’s Day or any occasion.
Merlot Redbud
Cercis canadensis ‘Merlot
A garden tryst between our beloved purple-foliaged Forest Pansy and the tough, heat-tolerant Texas White Redbud produced this lovable offspring. Sporting deep purple foliage that is glossier, thicker and more heat and drought tolerant than that of the ever-popular Forest Pansy, its upright growth habit and tough character makes it a great fit for urban gardens and street use. Selected from the second generation of a cross of ‘Texas White’ x ‘Forest Pansy’ by Dr. Dennis Werner of NCSU, this USDA Zon 6 tree grows to an approximate height and spread of 18’ x 20’.
Pink Pom Poms Redbud
Cercis canadensis ‘Pink Pom Poms
This love child of C. canadensis ‘Oklahoma’ x ‘Flame’ offers deep green, heat-resistant foliage like that of its ‘OK’ parent and is sterile (no seed pods!) like its double-flowered ‘Flame’ parent.
Hybridized by Dr. Dennis Werner of North Carolina State University, the large, bright pink, double blooms of this unique cultivar set hearts afire in springtime as they smother its upright, symmetrical branches. Upright branch angles, symmetrical branch habit and an unusually dominant central leader, plus an absence of seed pods make this redbud a good candidate for street tree use. Height and spread of this USDA Zone 6b tree are approximately 20’ x 15’.
Pink Heartbreaker Redbud
Cercis canadensis ‘Pink Heartbreaker
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. It is also said to be tolerant of heat and drought. Wider spreading than the well-known Lavender Twist®, this USDA Zone 5 weeper grows to a height and spread of about 12’ x 8’.
Strawberry Moon Chitalpa
x Chitalpa tashkentensis ‘Strawberry Moon’
Strawberry Moon Chitalpa turns heads when its large clusters of lavender-pink flowers bloom in June. Flowering of this tropical-looking tree continues through the summer months, with orchid-like blooms perched atop rounded, dark green leaves that cast cool shade. This new cultivar of a rare and underused genus will help city foresters increase the genetic diversity of their urban canopy. Its mature height and spread of 40’ x 35’ make it a good fit for today’s residential gardens. In bloom, Strawberry Moon is a traffic stopper that is sure to enchant garden center customers and landscape designers. Its fascinating origin is detailed in our November 9, 2023 blog, A Strawberry Moon on the rise.
Heartland® Catalpa
Catalpa speciosa ‘Hiawatha 2’
What’s not to love about this handsome Catalpa cultivar that originated in the heartland of America? Discovered in Hiawatha, Kansas, by plantsman Doug Grimm, this uniquely narrow form of our North American native tree is appreciated for its late spring flowers that attract and support pollinators at a time when few others are blooming.
A predictably narrow shape, upright growth habit, uniform branching, and darker green foliage make it more suitable for most landscape and street uses than seedling-grown trees of the species. Mature height and spread of approximately 50’ x 25’ make this USDA Zone 5 tree a good fit for shading city streets, parks and home landscapes.
Look for these at your favorite garden center and have a Happy Valentine’s Day!
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.
