With my annual tree order from our state nursery, I've ordered 10 redbud trees for the purposes of fixing nitrogen. But, I'd like to hear from folks who are using redbud and if there are any special considerations.

It grows wild at the edge of my yard. The flowers are edible and delicious. But the tree is neither sturdy nor long-lived. It also seems to me that when I researched it, the nitrogen-fixing was difficult to confirm.

Thanks for the note, Dan Boone. Well, if it isn't a good nitrogen fixer, then at least it is a very early bloomer which should give the bees an early food source in the spring. Maybe I should plant one of them near our apple trees to direct bees there.

Our redbuds are covered with seed pods that resemble bean pods and that's good enough for me, to say nitrogen fixer. I have a few that are over 25 years old and still kicking. In zone 7, they want afternoon shade, but in zone 5 they may be tolerant of more sun. Naturally they are on the edge which I love and the few that I've given more space to get fairly big - much larger than my apples trees.

It's definitely a legume, and for that reason is often listed as a nitrogen-fixer. But many sources aver that it is non-nodulating and is "not known" to fix nitrogen.

It very much works as an early-season bee attractor.

Here we get few large ones because the take a lot of damage from winter ice storms. There may be a pruning regime that would help with that, I'm not sure.