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Graham Rice

Graham Rice Garden writer and plantsman Northamptonshire and Pennsylvania

Editor-in-Chief of the RHS Encyclopedia of Perennials; writer for a wide range of newspapers and magazines including The Garden and The Plantsman; member of the RHS Herbaceous Plant Committee and Floral Trials Committee; author of many books on plants and gardens.

  • Date Joined: 18 Oct 2006

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Weeping Cercis, new at Chelsea

Posted by Graham Rice on 12 May 2008 at 12:00 AM

New on the Nottcuts stand in the Great Pavilion at Chelsea this year will be the first weeping redbud - Cercis canadensis Lavender Twist' (Covey).

Very popular in the USA, redbuds are less often grown in Britain than they should be. Perhaps this lovely weeping form will encourage us to plant more.

Making a lovely, spring-flowering, small tree, the vivid pink flowers stand out brightly against the almost black branches. The young, heart-shaped foliage is bronzed, then blue-tinted green, then turns bright yellow in the autumn. Prolific flowering is encouraged by hot summers - which are now more frequent than they once were - giving three phases of colour.

Lavender Twist is a small weeping form, ideal for small gardens and even large containers. It was found in the garden of Connie Covey, not far from Lake Erie in New York state, in 1991. The original tree was thirty-five years old but only 1.4m high, with a central stem staked and trained it may reach 3m in height with the slightly twisted branches cascading down to the ground. ‘Covey' is the cultivar name, Lavender Twist is the marketing name or Trade Designation.

First seen in Britain in 2004 when listed by Large Cottage Nurseries, they no longer list it but do list six other cultivars, including a white-flowered form. Lavender Twist is now available from Notcutts Garden Centres and from  these RHS Plant Finder stockists.

Another, weeping form, ‘Cascading Hearts', is listed by just one Plant Finder nursery, Swines Meadow Garden Centre.

You can read more about Cercis in an excellent article in The Garden.

For more on Chelsea's new plants, check our new plants page on the Chelsea website.

[Images Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder] 

Comments

kathryn said:

Graham. I fell in love with redbuds when we lived in the US for a time but here in Ireland I can't get them to flower - we don't seem to have the summer temperatures. I know one or two that flower well in Dublin city where the extra few urban degrees presumably ripens up the wood but in my frost pocket they just look at me every spring. Can you recommend a variety that might flower for me?

on 22 May 2008 at 10:44 PM

Graham Rice said:

I think you're right. Cercis need high summer temperatures to ripen the wood and set flower buds for the following spring. In much of the US, even though the winters may be colder than in Britain, the summer temperatures are higher so the flower buds form. And, as you know, the difference in summer temperatures between Dublin city (where I used to live, many years ago, by the way) and outside the city and in other parts of the country is significant. Of course, whether we're in Galway, Dublin,  Birmingham or Norwich - it looks as if summer temperatures are rising.

on 26 May 2008 at 01:27 AM

cercis covey said:

Pingback from  cercis covey

on 15 Jul 2008 at 07:42 PM