A year ago, my wife and I came home to find our lovely Rising Sun Redbud had been badly damaged in a severe thunderstorm. It had been perfectly shaped with a beautiful canopy of multicolored leaves.
After the storm’s strong winds had their way with the poor tree, it looked disheveled. It had to be significantly trimmed back, leaving only the back half of the canopy.
I wasn’t sure what would happen this year, especially after the unusually harsh winter we had, followed by a 22-degree freeze in late May. That hard freeze withered all of the sprouted leaves. I wasn’t very hopeful.
Nature, in her impulsively resilient renewal, proved me wrong. Today, the tree has produced a new crop of leaves that are as pretty and robust as the ones before the killing frost.
Life’s storms come and go. Nature rebounds despite our fears and doubts. Our resurrected Rising Sun Redbud is proof.
© Bruce Stambaugh 2026
Roadkill Crossing 
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