Place in full sun to partial shade and provide a moist well-drained soil. Established trees are drought tolerant and cold hardy to 10-15 degrees F. A very nice small tree in the woodland garden. A great example in Santa Barbara is the tree in front of our Santa Barbara Natural History Museum.

This tree comes from woodlands of the Mediterranean regions of southeastern Europe to southwestern Asia. The name for the genus comes from the Greek word 'kerkis' which means "weaver's shuttle", alluding to the shape of the seed pods. This specific epithet was given to this plant by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and comes from the Latin word 'siliqua' meaning "pod" and 'astrum' a substantive suffix for "partial resemblance" and used to distinguish wild plants from cultivated ones. The common name reference to Judas comes from a legend stating that Judas Iscariot, the money carrier for the disciples and the betrayer of Jesus in the New Testament, hanged himself on this type of tree and caused the tree to blush with embarrassment. Also known as the Mediterranean Redbud or the Love Tree. We first grew this tree from 2004 to 2008 and though we regarded it as a worthwhile plant, it was under appreciated and we stopped growing it because of the lack of demand. Our thanks go out to the San Luis Obispo Botanic Garden, who provided encouragement and seed that allowed us to grow it again in from 2011 until 2019. 

Information displayed on this page about Cercis siliquastrum is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.