Oklahoma Redbud

Every spring I see beautiful delicate lavender colored flowers on small spindly trees all around our alpaca pens. Dave said it was the redbud. I’m not from Oklahoma but it seemed kind of silly to me to call a lavender flower a redbud. Why not call it a purple bud? This year I finally looked closer and took pictures of the redbud in full bloom. Ok now I feel silly… the bud is actually red and the flower’s petals are lavender to pink in color.

Much to my surprise I also found out that the redbud is Oklahoma’s state tree. Oklahoma designated redbud (Cercis canadensis) as the official state tree in 1937. The redbud tree’s blossoms brighten the landscape throughout the state.