| General Description | `Hearts of Gold` has a wide range of foliage colour with the new leaves emerging a pink-purple tone in the spring and then quickly progressing to a yellow, almost golden colour then later changing to apple green at the onset of summer. The foliage emulates its cultivar name perfectly, being a beautiful gold, rounded, heart-shape leaf. Additionally it produces small clusters of purple, pea-like flowers along its branches prior to leaf emergence. |
| ID Characteristic | The key identification characteristic are its leaves: emerging purple-pink and then turning a yellow-gold and fading to apple green. Leaves are heart-shaped with rounded apices. Small pea-like blooms typical to most Cercis species and cultivars outline the branches in spring prior to leaf emergence. |
| Shape | Upright vase shape, being as broad as its height. |
| Landscape | Cercis canadensis 'Hearts of Gold' is one of the first known gold foliaged cultivars of C. canadensis. 'Hearts of Gold' is principally used as a small tree in landscape settings, with a mature height of 6 m and a spread of 4-6 m. It is hard to forget this trees beautiful foliage with the colour and shape of the leaf matching the name perfectly: heart-shaped leaves being a brilliant yellow-gold. |
| Propagation | 'T' budding provides the best, but limited results (50% success rates) in summer on C. canadensis rootstock. Rooting from stem cuttings is very difficult with the potential for tissue culture showing some promise. |
| Cultivation | Cercis canadensis 'Hearts of Gold' prefers well-drained soils and once established is considered somewhat drought tolerant. Leaf colour is best if the tree is planted in full sun. It can be trained to be a single stem tree but I prefer it as I do all other Cercis species and cultivars as multi-stemmed plant. |
| Pests | It may suffer from Verticillium wilt and Botryosphaeria canker. |
| Notable Specimens | The Gardens of Fanshawe College, London, Ontario, Canada. |
| Habitat | Horticultural origin. |
| Bark/Stem Description | The bark is light grey in colour, with small, linear, plates. |
| Flower/Leaf Bud Description | Absent terminal bud, small, lateral buds being a a balckish-red in colour and about 3-5 mm long. |
| Leaf Description | The simple, entire, leaves are held in an alternate arrangement, are ovate-orbiculate in shape shape and are approximately 4-6 cm long and 5-10 cm across. Leaf venation is palmate, reticulate brachidodrome and pinnate. Leaves emerge purple-pink in the spring, changing to yellow gold and then to apple green at the onset of summer. With a 4-6 cm petiole leaves tend to weep slightly from the branches. |
| Flower Description | Perfect, small purple-pink, pea shaped flowers, 2.5 cm long, blooming in late May-June. |
| Fruit Description | Common to most redbuds are brown-grey coloured pods being quite thin and from 5-10 cm long, often persisting on the branches through to the following season. |
| Colour Description | `Hearts of Gold` has a wide range of foliage colour with the new leaves emerging a pink-purple tone in the spring and then quickly progressing to a yellow, almost golden colour then later changing to apple green at the onset of summer. The foliage emulates its cultivar name perfectly, being a beautiful gold, rounded, heart-shape leaf. Additionally it produces small clusters of purple, pea-like flowers along its branches prior to leaf emergence. The bark is light grey in colour. |
| Texture Description | This is a course textured plant that changes to a medium texture in the winter time due to leaf drop. |
