Cytisus scoparius seed

LATIN NAME: Cytisus scoparius

COMMON NAME: Broom

The broom raises its many golden-yellow, pea-like flowers along the green, wiry, leafless stems, and the whole shrub carries the fine, bright look of the open country. The upright, wiry-stemmed, deciduous shrub carries the small, sparse, trifoliate leaves and the many golden-yellow, pea-like flowers along the green, angled, leafless stems through the late spring, one of the fine, bright sights of the open bank, drawing the bees, to be followed by the small, blackish seed pods. The shrub is a fine, historic presence of the open country, and it is a shrub of the open, sunny, sharp-draining ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The broom is a historic subject of the plant science, and the golden flowers keep showing up in the work on the open-country legumes. The way the many golden-yellow, pea-like flowers form along the green, angled, leafless stems has been studied at length, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the open-country legumes, the wiry stems and the members of the pea family. The sparse leaves and the upright habit have also made it a fine study shrub, and the broom is a regular subject of the work on the golden flowers of the cool world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The broom is a fine, bright shrub of the open bank and the study collection. The many golden-yellow, pea-like flowers along the green, angled, leafless stems open through the late spring, one of the fine, bright sights of the open bank, drawing the bees, and the shrub is a fine, historic presence of the open country, best kept to the places where the spread is welcome, while the small, blackish seed pods follow the flowers. It is one of the fine choices for the open bank, the dry bed and the study collection, and it has been written up in the horticultural and the botanical papers for the golden flowers and the open ways. It is a fine, bright shrub of the open, sunny, sharp-draining garden.

Give the young plants the sharp-draining soil, and the golden flowers will line the stems in the late spring.

To grow the broom from seed, sow the small, brown seeds just under the surface of the tray of fine, sandy soil, keep the tray in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground. The seedlings appear within a couple of weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun and the sharp-draining ground, the golden flowers will line the stems in the late spring.

Cytisus scoparius ‘Red & Yellow Flowered’, Common Broom or Scotch Broom.

It is a great medium sized erect deciduous shrub with slender green shoots with small ternate leaves. Ideal for a spot at the back of the border or as part of a hedge. It does well in well drained but moist sites in full sun, but is quite tolerant of other soil types, sites and moisture. It grows to around 1.5m high and across, producing masses of pea-like bright red and yellow flowers on axillary clusters in Spring, great for pollinators!
This species can be short lived but self seeds readily, it can last for 10 years or more if planted in a sheltered site and protected from rocking.