Ok so the first season it was only 12" tall (western redbud) and they said it would not bloom the first year but it would grow about 4 feet and would bloom the next year. Well it grew but is NOT BLOOMING. The buds are all leaves! (so far, I may be a bit premature but usually the flowers come first. I planted in a southwestern corner of my yard because although they are natives, it said to give them some shade. DO you think it's not blooming because it isnt getting enough sun in the blooming season? THANKS for any help!

I planted my redbud in full sun. It didn't bloom the first year and the second only saw a few buds. This year it has lots more buds but still not what I'd call a whole lot. My experience with the one I had at my other house (8 years old when we sold the house) is that it didn't really get going good until about it's fourth year. While mine is in full sun, yours should be O.K. where it is since they do grow at the margins of woods in the wild and still bloom quite well. I would just give it another year. BTW, you are right, the flowers do appear before the leaves.

Thank you soooo much! I will leave it where it is then and give it another chance! I have it on it's way to being trimmed to a nice single trunk tree shape anyway. I love my redbud!

They are such pretty trees. They have such a graceful shape--like a huge unbrella. I love mine too and can't wait for it to get some real size to it. The one I had at our other house was just beautiful! When it got real big, I ended up encircling it with hostas and it looked even prettier.

Redbuds from flowers on old wood so in my expiereance it takes several years to get a good crop of flowers. In general western Redbud (Cercis occidentails) perfers full sun but will take partial shade, good drainage is necessary. For what its worth the Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) looks similar but has larger leaves and a overall larger size, and is more suited to "garden conditions". Hope this is of some interest.