2026 Garden Progress

Rising Sun Redbud

Cercis canadensis 'The Rising Sun'
A spring flare plant, all neon leaves and electric bloom, dramatic in exactly the right way.
spring flare deciduous tree 11 photos
Rising Sun redbud canopy glowing yellow green above the June garden
June 8, 2026

Summer canopy still glowing

A week deeper into June, the redbud is still the brightest overhead structure in the back garden.

Season notes
The canopy has thickened into full summer leaf, but the yellow-green color remains strong. Below it, hostas, lavender and purple bloom, daylily foliage, and the raised-bed edge make the whole corner read as a layered garden room.
Rising Sun redbud canopy glowing yellow green in full June sun
June 1, 2026

Sunlit June canopy

The redbud is still carrying a strong yellow-green glow, with fresh amber tips catching the hard midday light above the shaded bed.

Season notes
By early June the canopy has moved out of the spring flare stage, but it is still the bright overhead anchor for the arbor-side planting, with hostas, salvia, and lower path plants filling in beneath it.
Rising Sun redbud over the garden path beside purple salvia and the grape arbor
May 27, 2026

Path-side canopy

From the path, the redbud reads as a luminous ceiling over the purple salvia, hostas, grapevine, and lower green layers.

Season notes
This portrait frame shows how much shade and structure the tree is contributing now. The canopy is dense enough to frame the path, but the new growth still keeps the whole corner bright.
Rising Sun redbud with full chartreuse spring canopy
May 6, 2026

Full chartreuse canopy

The redbud has settled into a luminous green-gold canopy, still bright enough to anchor the whole raised bed.

Season notes
After the early magenta bloom and orange new growth, the tree is now fully leafed out against the lattice, with hostas and mixed lower planting filling in around its base.
Magenta bloom on bare wood
April 12, 2026

Magenta bloom on bare wood

The redbud kicks off with magenta blooms on bare wood, the first color of the season.

Gold-orange leaves pushing
April 15, 2026

Gold-orange leaves pushing

Each flush of new growth is a different color — starting lime, shifting through apricot, settling to chartreuse.

Color shift underway
April 16, 2026

Color shift underway

The neon leaf progression becoming more visible as more growth pushes out.

Peak color explosion
April 17, 2026

Peak color explosion

One of the most photographed plants in the yard, the gold-orange-green gradient at its most vivid.

Full overview
April 21, 2026

Full overview

The whole tree showing its layered color progression from top to bottom.

Settling into green
April 27, 2026

Settling into green

The early neon fading to chartreuse as the leaves mature, still a beautiful gradient.

Summer reference
2025 Summer

Summer reference

What the tree looks like in full summer leaf — useful context for the spring progression.