The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Trees and Shrubs => Topic started by: John on September 13, 2011, 08:32:33 AM
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When we arrived at the Rothschild Memorial Garden in Israel I was able to photograph this surprisingly perfect standard specimen of Cercis siliquastrum. I say surprisingly because I don't think I have ever seen one before with a straight trunk never mind a single trunk.
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This was to be one of my "Trees in the streets of Corinth"
There are about ten straight ish Judas trees lining the pavement outside the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul.
They were planted many years ago, in the early 1900s I would say, and have quite strong thick trunks.
It is wonderful when Easter coincides with their flowering period.
I have planted one in the back yard of the block of flats and it is still very thin and weedy.
Since I don't have a digital photo of the ones outside the church here is another one and you can guess where I took it
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We have had a Cercis siliquastrum for several years now and it has flowered religiously (ouch!) every spring without fail. This year, for the first time ever, it has begun to have a second flowering. The photo was taken today, 13 September.
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From trips around the Peloponnese I remember the glorious sight of flowering C. siliquastrum in April. I recall them having a "tree-like" shape, though I couldn't tell if they had a single trunk. On Paros, our two specimens seem very reluctant to grow upwards - it is the wind, I think. Even after much cajoling and threatening they still look like shrubs. We have recently planted a straight-trunked one in a slightly more sheltered position and will keep an eye on its behaviour.
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I have only seen the single trunk kind in our area, it is one of my favourite trees. I planted one a few years ago, and it has behaved very well, although it wants to lean a little, so I have tried to straighten it while it is still young; it is easy to see that the prevailing winds are coming from the north-east. When we arrived around Easter this year, some of the leaves had already started come, but it was still a joy to see it in bloom.
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I too love this tree and its ability to survive and produce flowers is amazing. In our area I have seen several specimins in our local town that were obvioulsly getting too big for the small gardens in which they were planted. These trees had been reduced to almost nothing by severe pruning but were still producing flowers from the few remaining stubs of branches and even from the trunk itself. A rather ugly sight in fact but illustrating the tree's propensity to survive no matter what.
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I bought four small specimens this spring. They spent too long in pots waiting for me to get their planting area ready. But they hung in there, and they have been planted for a couple of months now. They are surviving, but the only new growth is from sprouts from the base. I am leaving these as they are, to act as 'nurse branches' for a while. I hope and expect new growth and blossom from the main part of the trees next year.
One of the nice things about Cercis is that they start to flower when young. My plants are only 1.3m tall and they put on a reasonable show while still in their pots. I'm looking forward to seeing them perform again in the coming Spring. And I shall look forward to seeing them develop their trunk(s) structure. I planted one for Mum & Dad in Surrey many years ago and enjoyed watching that develop its structure over the years as well. It was in a sheltered spot, and ended up as a pair of trunks with nice gentle curves. It always flowered very well, and was a delight to everybody. Even the pinky-purple carpet of fallen petals had its charm.
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I understand that Cercis siliquastrum resents being transplanted.
Perhaps that's why your four specimens are sulking at the moment, Mike.
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C siliquastrum is a road-side planted tree on the A7 Valence to Spain autoroute. Colours range from almost white to deep purple. Flowering time also varies over a 2-3 weekperiod.
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Alice - thanks, yes, could be
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Cercis siliquastrum has flowers which emerge directly from the branch/stem. This is known as cauliflorous.
Another tree which has the same characters is Brownea macrophylla. Pic taken in Panama
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John - re your post of 13sep - a couple of mine have the odd flower now, like yours. (I also have a first flower of the season on Viola odorata! and a few extra flowers on my kumquat)
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I have recently seen on a trip to Crete from Italy some splendid trees and I was told that they were of the cercis siliquastrum family. The variety we have in italy has blus-lilla flowers while the one I have seen in Chania and Heraglion has pink flowers with red interiors. Can anybody give me the name of the variety? I would very much like to grow one of this trees. Can they be bought and sent to Itasly or could I have at least some seeds? Thank you very much to anyone giving some information.
Paolo.Lariccia@gmail.com
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Paolo,
The tree in your photo is Bauhinia variegata and not Cercis siliquastrum.
If you meant Cercis; it has a white form which is more shruby, pink form in the Mediterranean and deep pink/purple in central Asia.
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Paolo,
There is a discussion on Bauhinia here -
http://www.mgsforum.org/smf/index.php?topic=345.0
They grow easily from seed, and should flower in only a few years.
You should be able to buy plants in Italy (now you know the name).
Well worth growing (as is Cercis siliquastrum, too).
Good luck.
Mike
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Cercis siliquastrum, Judas tree, Κουτσουπιά
I don't have a stamp photo of Cercis siliquastrum but to continue the Easter / Spring theme I am posting this under the Cercis thread where there are quite a few posts.
After searching I discovered that both Greece. In 2010, and Malta, in 2005, had issued stamps depicting Judas trees, unfortunately I don't have these stamps.
There are quite a lot of these trees flowering at this moment in Corinth, even one, in the back yard of the block, which my husband planted for me a few years ago.
I found a couple of slides which my father took showing Judas trees in all their glory at Ancient Olympia. In fact I can even find the exact date in my Mother's small diaries. The photos were taken on Friday 18th April, 1969 . Orthodox Easter was on 13th April that year.
In THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 17, Summer 1999 there is an article devoted to THE JUDAS TREE by Sabina Rossini Oliva
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The trees is so bright when is in flower. Ours has already finished. We had some rather warm/hot days at the beginning of the year and a lot of trees flowered early.
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Cercis siliquastrum, Judas tree, Arbol del Amor
We saw this tree in the Royal Botanic Garden , Madrid in 1997
This was long before I knew the Latin or Spanish name for the Judas tree.
I was fascinated by the seed pods on the trunk of the tree and have since observed the flowers on the trunks of our local Judas trees here in Corinth
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I agree - it is really amazing to see flowers on severely pruned trees. Here in Italy it is a fairly common sight where pruning is often severe in the extreme.
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Does anybody else here have problems with stem-boring larvae (perhaps leopard moth) ruining their judas trees?
This year, as last, I had several moderately thick stems die off and/or fold over because of this problem. It is saddening as I try hard, year by year, to form my four trees into good shapes.
Mike
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My experience is only with Cercis canadensis FOREST PANSY. It is over 20 yrs old and has suffered I think from too much winter rain standing about. The twigs and some branches have died back. THEN THE BORERS get in. Could this be your problem. The situation is on a slight slope but the soil is heavy and wet.
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Thanks Trevor.
My trees are on the edge of a free-draining slope, made of somewhat stony marl. They get regular water, but even in winter, they don't get that wet. I've had the same problem on olives and Bauhinia, but thus far most of those have managed to keep going despite the borings.
Mike
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Cercis siliquastrum, Judas tree
This tree is blossoming the moment and there is no shortage of photos of the tree on my computer
The first photo was taken this week opposite the church of Saint Paul in Corinth
The second photo was taken in Athens at a lesser known archaeological site
The third photo was taken in 2018 at the Royal Botanic Garden, Madrid
And the last photo was taken in the back yard of the block of flats where we live
The Judas tree is mentioned many times in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN
I chose
URBAN TREES IN AN ATHENS NEIGHBOURHOOD by Caroline Harbouri
There is a drawing to illustrate this article by Derek Toms showing how the seed pods sometimes grow out of the tree trunk
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 80, April 2015
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I had never found these trees particularly attractive, the colour of the flowers being rather too garish for me and then someone gave me a small branch in flower and Inhave to admit I found the individual flowers quite beautiful. Quite a strange tree all round with its ability to produce flowers even from the trunk as is often seen here after 'Italian' pruning!
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Ours has already flowered and it now looks rather dull after the very bright colour of its flowers.
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My four judas trees have made some progress (8 years on), despite further branches being lost through stem borings.
I am growing them alternating between grey lavenders. These particular lavenders are too boistrous, but I will cut them back (they respond well).
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Hi Mike,
brilliant colour on your cercis! We have one which we planted nearly 20 years ago but now seedlings pop up everywhere!
These are pics of ours from a couple of years ago,
cheers
fermi
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Hi Fermi,
Mine produce copious seed, but no seedlings. The flowers are abuzz with bees, so I presume the flowers get properly fertilized, and hence the seeds should be viable. I guess they must get eaten before or shortly after germination.
//Mike
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Cercis siliquastrum is looking good this year.
The parrots discovered the seed-pods this year and demolished most of them before the flowers came out so the tree wasn't as festooned with the dead pods as usual!
Still a lot of seedlings germinating around the garden,
cheers
fermi
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Lovely to see so much colour in your garden