Alba Redbud Seeds

This seed strain was found to grow both large forest type trees as well as smaller compact trees with heavy flowering. I have kept some of the best seedlings found at our farm and have grown them from the variety alba. It turned out they were not alba(meaning white) in flowering but did provide a nice colony of small trees as an understory in the pecan planting. The trees are quite vigorous and grew and flowered heavy with little top soil in their location. 

Alba was originally found as a chance seedling in the wild in central Illinois. I found the clonal plant at a nearby arboretum and grew the plants from seed. The colors of the flowers were not white but some did have a more light violet tone to them than the typical redbud found in the wild in Michigan. I also found the plants to grow much vigorously than the Michigan ecotypes I have at my farm as well. The reason for this might be its more southern origin. The amazing yields of pods and growth suggest this would be a good understory plant and could be periodically cut to the ground to provide wood both for wood for turning and handles as well as fertilizer for the surrounding trees. It is considered a nitrogen fixing tree as well. The flowers are edible, but very bland and kind of chewy with no noticeable floral flavor that one would suspect from such a tree. But they do make an interesting garnish flower and worth collecting for that purpose as they hold up well. The tree is one of the best in the landscape trade as a street tree and this particular seed source is much better than the other named Oklahoma forms which frequently die here in Michigan as it is too southern of a strain. Illinois is totally adaptive here to both cold and the soil types. 

Easy to grow from seed: Scar seed with sandpaper to remove the sheen and then put in a moist media in a zip lock bag for 90-120 days in the refrigerator. After cold put at room temperature. Seeds will sprout like beans and you can plant them by covering them with 1/4 inch of soil. Planting outside in the fall can be done as the natural bacterial action will help scar the seed and the seeds will germinate in the spring. But some seeds will take another year to break dormancy fully. Some seeds will sprout right away without scaring by sandpaper but it speeds up the imbibing of the water which then makes it possible for the cold dormancy to have an effect.