I figured it might be a bit weedy, but I do like those leaves. It doesn't look like one of those world-domination-or-bust type of plants, though, so I thought I'd try it out here. My yard's pretty shady, and so far it seems quite happy to be here. We don't have deer here, but I guess some pollinator or other critter might be glad to find it here. Mine might be S. canadensis also- I see some photos online that do look right, and others that don't. I'm guessing yours probably looks pretty similar? Thanks, Virginia

You might get more help on the Trees Forum. Best luck!

merryrose, Aliska, I love redbuds, but some ? of whether they blossom in Maine--definitely grow and thrive, but blossom? I can't promise but you're in my zone. They're called Eastern Redbuds, must be for a reason. There's a lot of info and photos on the web. Your wooded area sounds wonderful! Here's one down the alley, I think I picked those very seeds the next day, dried them, husked them (easier than I'd feared), planted them, and many sprouted but I lost them the following winter when I didn't plunge the bottles into the ground. May try some more this spring. I'd like to get some on the boulevard on my street but don't know if the city would like it. It should be a suitable tree for that unless it hangs over the street and needs trimmed. I see somebody set something out there and put a wire cage around it. We did a block project to plant that boulevard many years ago. Life was so frantic then I didn't feel I could physically help but contributed a lousy 10 bucks, went further then. Now some trees have grown very tall and we've lost others. Most on the block but one or two have long since moved away or died. The next street north of me is similar, and theirs is planted better, shadier, and one neighbor looks like he's planted all sorts of things along with whatever trees are there. That first one wasn't the photo I had in mind. It's nice, too, forgot I had it so will put both in there. They're sure not red though, mostly pinkist purple.

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I added some leaf mulch today just to see how it would look and it actually looks really great. I guess in my effort to mulch, I just mimicked how nature would fill in the bare ground of a real woodland! No wonder the leaf mulch seems to look "right." I'm sure the plants will like it too. It's interesting that you mentioned the Dicentra eximia/Fringed Bleeding heart because I was looking at the Bleeding Heart today and thought its leaves looked unusual. The nursery tag says Dicentra spectabilis but the leaves look more like a Dicentra eximia. It's possible the nursery put a spectabilis tag on an eximia I suppose. I didn't know that Dicentra eximia doesn't go dormant in the summer -- thanks for the info! We have a pink Dicentra spectabilis that goes dormant in the summer but the "Alba" is new, so we haven't seen it through a summer yet. Maybe we're in luck and the new "Alba" spectabilis is actually an eximia. I was planning on planting some ferns around it so that when it goes dormant the ferns will cover the fading foliage, but maybe now I won't need to. Wow, Cardinal plant--it must be beautiful. We have violets popping up all over now too (in our lawn), so I'm transplanting some of them to the mini "woodland". Thanks again for everyone's help!