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Redbud Blossoms, Opening,
Germantown MetroPark, Ohio
This closeup photograph of the nearly-open blossoms of a Redbud tree (Cercis canadensis) was made in April 2003. A small understory tree that goes all but unnoticed the remainder of the year, the Redbud makes its showy splash in early spring, while the taller and more cautious hardwood trees are only thinking about blossoming, much less breaking leaf bud. The Redbud's numerous, brilliant pink-purple flowers can form a dazzling layer of static fireworks floating about 10-20 feet above the forest floor, a real harbinger of spring amongst the somber gray-browns of the still dormant hardwood forests of the East.
Soon its spectacular show is over, its blossoms hidden among its own emerging bright green leaves and, quickly, those of the more dominant maples, oaks, ashes, and hickories underneath or beside which it lives. As the green explosion of the main forest canopy in late spring gets in full swing, the little Redbud trees disappear from notice once again. There's always next spring.
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