Sunday, April 4, 2010

Laburnum watereri (Golden Chain Tree) Update (261 Days)

Here's just a quick update on my Laburnum watereri.  They should be hardy in my zone but I decided I'd rather let them grow bigger inside.  The largest is almost 1m (3ft) tall!  I don't expect any blooms this year, but definitely next summer. 

They've also started a small Oak forest in the greenhouses.  I'm not sure what the plants are for but UWO grows many of it's own trees.

10 comments:

  1. I love this tree but I think our climate is too hot for it. We can grow the Golden Rain tree which I think is different.

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  2. Yeah they're two different trees. This one is supposedly fine to zone 11 but it seems like it prefers maximum temps in the 70s during the summer and nothing higher. When grown over arbors they are incredible!

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  3. So Beautiful and healthy! Happy Easter!

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  4. Rosemary Verey had a Laburnum walk all along a pergola with Allium hollandicum growing beneath them. The Queen's Garden behind Kew Palace at Kew in England has them growing that way as well.

    I can't remember if it is just heat or something else that they don't like as well. Pollution or humidity or something. I remember they had them planted in the NY Botanical Garden parking lot and one of my instructors was telling us there were a lot of problems with them so they pulled them out.

    Did you grow those from seed?

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  5. Those sound like a great combination. These plants don't like heat so that may be it. I've heard they are sensitive to chemicals as well. There was a story about someone using some weedkiller on their lawn and a young Laburnum dying literally by the next day. So it's possible Laburnum are pollution sensitive as well.

    I get the feeling that as long as they don't dry out, get too warm or are overdosed with chemicals, they'll be fine. I haven't had any problems with pests or anything yet.

    I did grow these from seed. I ordered them from Australia via ebay.

    By the way, every portion of the plant is poisonous. This may be part of the reason why they needed to get rid of it.

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  6. Yeah at Kew the gardener in charge of the Queen's garden told me that after they bloom she has to remove all the seed pods so kids don't eat them.

    Another weird thing they had there was a +Laburnocytisus. A Chimaera of a Laburnum and Chamaecytisus.

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  7. I had a golden chain tree that we had to take down :(. But there were volunteers. I replanted one to a different location and it's now 10 feet high. But it's only one long stick. Does it need to be pinched back to encourage it to bush out? Or will it do this naturally? And how far down should I cut it back without ending up with a bush.
    Can you give me any ideas?

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  8. They tend to get lanky if you don't trim them. I don't know much about proper care but in this area they are either trimmed and dense or long twigs with a few branches.

    You can probably cut it about as far as you'd like. If you want the branches started at about 6ft, then just lop of the top there. If you get any growing too low you can always trim those off.

    The nicest one I've seen here was about 5ft tall and trimmed into a 'ball' about 4ft across. The branches are very dense and it's completely covered with blooms in the spring. So I figure they can take any abuse you throw at them.

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