Have you planted the redbuds or have you lost them in pots? I'm guessing, but I wonder if while so young they wouldn't benefit from a little protection first winter at least. It's my understanding Cercis reniformis 'Oklahoma' is a little less hardy than the c. Canadensis I typically see around here. Or, it could be possible our winter wet is doing them in - again, I don't know where the seedling has been located but I might consider someplace unheated but semi protected, or protected during icy storms at least until more established, root system and plant in general are larger. If you have it in the ground, you could consider a cage of sorts around it after it goes dormant, burlap or row cover wrapped around for a few degrees of protection.

I've had then in pots and wanted to give one to my granddaughter so I've waited a year. I live in Oregon where it doesn't get REAL cold but you may be right. I've left it out in the patio over winter. I'll try putting it in the garage for the winter and see if that works. Thanks for the help.

This post was edited by rtg143 on Wed, Oct 2, 13 at 11:11

Redbud does poorly in pots as it wants to form a taproot very small. I pull the seedlings at about 6-10 inch high and the root is often a foot long. I grow some collected in the Oklahoma Ozarks here and they do fine so your zone should be okay but may be a bit warm in winter if it is as wet there as I think.

I bought the mother tree as a bare root and it didn't have much of a tap root. The leaves don't turn yellow in the fall on the little ones either. They just later fall off.