Fantastic festoons of  floral racemes give this Laburnum its common name of  ‘Golden Rain’. The drooping clusters of small yellow flowers are produced in spring and early summer.

Describing Laburnum

• Laburnum trees produce yellow pea like flowers and pea shaped seed pods.
• These small ornamental trees are easy to cultivate and produce flowers in May & June.
• The deciduous leaves are trifoliate usually dull green and slightly hairy.
• Laburnum watereri Vossii is this free flowering form with extra long racemes of flower. Alfords Weeping is a small vigorous tree with a wide spreading head.
• Common Laburnum Laburnum anagyroides can grow to 30 feet tall, Aureum is a golden leaved variety and Autumnale often flowers again in the autumn.
• Laburnum alpinum ‘Scottish Laburnum’ is a small tree with fragrant flowers.
• Common laburnum vulgare  flowers earlier and has shorter racemes with the same pea shaped flowers but hairy pods.
• Laburnum also  has Erect and Pendulum varieties

Growing Tips

• Below is a Llaburnum walk way that is many years old. Such decorative walks are replanted from cuttings but most Laburnums are propagated by seed.
• Plant your laburnum tree in full sun. The more sun the better
• Laburnum are not fussy about the type of soil
• Try removing the drying seed pods on small trees to encourage a good show of flowers the following year.
• The trees are not very long lived and I have recently taken out a tree that was 30 feet high because I hadn’t kept it in check.

Health Warning on Laburnums

• All parts of Laburnum are poisonous particularly the seeds -Stop children from eating them.
• Symptoms of poisoning by Laburnum root or seed are intense sleepiness, vomiting, convulsive movements and dilated pupils.
• The seeds look tempting shiny black but are bitter alkaline to taste.