Amateur Gardening – 20 July 2019

20 JULY 2019AMATEUR GARDENING 45

Gardening’s king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke

MOSTLY when we see a broom

in flower, we’ll be looking at a

form of cytisus. There are both

deciduous and evergreen types,

but many have practically leafless

shoots, with a light grass-like

quality that offers a useful contrast

to nearby broadleaved shrubs.

Most garden soils are suitable,

although the extremes of acid and

chalk are best avoided. All require

good drainage and full sun.

There are some 30 species of cytisus (pictured above is

Cytisus x kewensis). Originally the genus was much larger,

but a few years ago many of the low and prostrate forms were

separated and given their own genus of chamaecytisus.

5

cytisus that are

not yellow

Cream-white: Cytisus x praecox ‘Albus’

Deep crimson, light red and yellow:

Cytisus ‘Burkwoodii’

Cream and crimson:

Cytisus ‘Hollandia’

Apricot and red: Cytisus ‘Goldfi nch’

Laburnum-cytisus

chimera

The cytisuses

Brooms – not brushes

Colourful late-spring and summer shrubs

This

week

it’s:

All photography Alamy / Wikicommons / TI Media, unless otherwise credited

FEW people could fail to notice a cytisus

in full flower, covered with masses of pea-

like blooms. It is the main genus of plants

that are referred to as ‘brooms’, with the

others being types of genista and

spartium. Between them they offer a

huge array of colourful late-spring and

summer shrubs – and the flowers aren’t

always yellow! There are a few other

garden plants and growths with ‘broom’

in the names, too. Many are in flower

now, so let’s look at them in detail.

Twigs from ‘broom’ went to make

besoms – for sweeping – hence the

word for the long-handled sweeping

brush is a ‘broom’. The common broom (cytisus) in full fl ower

Red, orange and yellow:

Cytisus ‘Lena’

THE pineapple broom (Argyrocytisus

battandieri) used to be a cytisus, but

botanists have recently renamed it

• mainly because it is quite different
  to any of the others. It becomes a
  tall shrub 13ft (4m) or so high, with
  upright clusters of bright-yellow
  flowers that have a sweet fragrance
  akin to pineapple. This plant is in
  flower now. Sometimes called the
  Moroccan broom, it makes a good
  freestanding specimen plant, thriving best with the protection of
  a wall. However, it can be a little on the tender side, so garden
  centres often sell it with a warning note. It has silky grey-green
  leaves, similar in shape to laburnum (to which the cytisus is
  closely related).

Pineapple broom

THE

battandieri

botanists have recently renamed it

• mainly because it is quite different
  to any of the others. It becomes a
  tall shrub 13ft (4m) or so high, with
  upright clusters of bright-yellow
  flowers that have a sweet fragrance
  akin to pineapple. This plant is in
  flower now. Sometimes called the
  Moroccan broom, it makes a good

Argyrocytisus

THE familial link with laburnum has

led to the creation of x Laburnocytisus

adamii (pictured), a cross-generic small

tree (actually a grafted chimera). It has

three types of flowers on a single plant:

purple cytisus-like flowers, yellow

laburnum-like flowers, and other pea-

like flowers of yellow and pinky-purple.

It originated on the nursery of

Monsieur Adam, near Paris in 1825.

A low-growing pinkish broom

(Chamaecytisus purpureus) was

grafted on to a straight trunk of a yellow

Laburnum anagyroides, to create this

attractive semi-weeping standard tree.

Sadly, however,

even nurseries

are not always

able to

acquire

stocks of this

tree, so you

may have

to search

hard for it.

Sadly, however,

even nurseries