51cg

Around here (Birmingham, Alabama) redbuds grow outside and do fine, but that includes several months dormant time when the temperatures drop and light levels go down. Temps here will be below 5C/41F or so quite a bit, with occasional frost.

Several people here have tried to grow them as bonsais and had no success, but that is just the particular species found in the woods here.

Check your species and see what zone it came from. If it expects a dormant period with pretty cool periods and/or frost you should try to imitate that environment for the tree.

Just wondering how the redbud is doing - have a 3 years old one grown from seed as well (took off any leaf growing half an inch bigger than the others each time - so gradual reduction and not from the stem but as if they had been eaten) also moved mine to a bigger pot to enable the trunk to thicken last year. Would be good to see what the redbud looks like after a few years being trained smaller growth. Mine is outside full time in Uk and i dont cover for frost either so think it has hardened off the plant already and this year it has come back with a lot smaller leaf and a larger quantity.

Hi Gmz04,Your redbud looks like it’s doing really well, keeping it outside year-round in the UK clearly paid off. The way you’ve been reducing leaf size gradually (instead of cutting from the stem) is a really nice approach, and moving it to a bigger pot for trunk thickening makes total sense. Sounds like it’s properly hardened now, especially with how it’s come back this year with smaller, denser growth.Mine’s had a very different journey. I’ve somehow managed to keep it alive indoors (still not entirely sure how), but because of that the growth has been much slower and less compact. The trunk has thickened compared to the early years, but it’s nowhere near what you’d get outdoors.It’s coming up to about 6 years old now. I’m hoping to move it outside once I have a garden, which should make a big difference. Ideally I’d like to start getting more controlled, smaller growth like yours. I’m also hoping it might start flowering in the next year or so, although being indoors has probably thrown its timing off a bit.?