Genista racemosa
28 Oct 2009 10 Comments
in 6. Wonderful Plants Tags: Genista racemosa, Hardy, Plant, Yellow flowers
Our G. racemosa at the entrance of the driveway
If you love bright yellow flowers, Genista racemosa can be the plant for you to grow. Last year’s long drought in Victoria (Australia) did not affect the performance of this tough plant. Now during the Australian spring time, it is showing off masses of pealike blooms that cover the whole plant. I have shaped it into a rounded topiary and year after year it awards me with a showy display of golden colour.
This hardy evergreen plant is also known as Sweet Broom, Canary Island Broom or Cystisus spachianus. Originally it is from Canary Islands. A very quick growing plant which can grow up to 2 meters (6 ft) high. It is perfect to make a topiary. It has a small compound leaves which consist of three oval leaflets. Best grown in warmer area and it needs very low maintenance. Will do well in average well drain soil with full sun position and it hardly needs any fertilizer.
It is said that this plant is regarded as an invasive weed, so it will affect the market availability in some area. However, I have grown G. racemosa for many years and I have never had any problem with growing seeds that invade my garden bed at all. In comparison, I have continuous problems with next door loquat tree (Eriobotrya japonica) where the seeds of the mature fruits grow everywhere in my garden bed and I have a problem of pulling them off the ground.
Useful Hint: If you have already planted it and you have problems with invasive new shoots around your garden bed, it is better to prune the finish flowers as quick as possible before the pods are mature. This way the possibility for the seeds to fall and to grow out of control will be completely reduced. Pruning and shaping G. racemosa after flowering will also give the plant a nice and compact shape and more flowers in following spring time.
Happy gardening.
Update March 23,2010
Our Genista racemosa was badly damaged by caterpilars. All of sudden I noticed that this supposedly evergreen little tree had become completely bare. When I looked closely I notice that the plant was practically covered by hundreds of tiny caterpilars. So quickly I sprayed it with Perythrum insecticide. Very quickly those nasty pests were wriggling themselves to death. Hopefully the plant will recover………..
Jan. 2010:
Link to other blogs about this plant:
http://kiyanti2008.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/genista-racemosa-after-the-attack/
http://kiyanti2008.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/genista-racemosa-follow-up/
Nov 03, 2009 @ 09:54:04
Today I saw this plant for sale at Bunnings:)
Apr 01, 2010 @ 05:56:14
Caterpillars? OMG, make me itchy just thinking about it. Yaeck!!!!
Apr 01, 2010 @ 06:54:59
They were quite small caterpillars, not too hairy!
The good news is that the poor plant has started to grow new leaves. I have to repeat the insecticide spray to make sure the nasty bugs won’t come back again.
Apr 17, 2010 @ 21:05:14
I bought one of these in a fairly small plastic pot and decided I would look up info. Tag didn’t help that was in the pot. We live in a mobile home and lot is about 50′ wide, with limited garden areas with sun. So now I am trying to figure out where to put this possible 6 ft. wide (in the future) plant. The blossoms are awesome, good thing I checked ahead.
Apr 17, 2010 @ 23:46:15
We’ve had the plant for about 10 years and regular trimming and shaping keep it relatively compact and small in size. The width of the ball is only around 90cm (= about 3 ft) when in full bloom and smaller when not in flower.
I guess if it is grown in a shady spot, you’ll get less flowers.
Thank you for reading my blog:)
Apr 26, 2010 @ 18:24:27
Your plant is beautiful! How many years have you had it?
Like Gael, I just picked up a small pot because I fell in love with the yellow flowers. I was hoping to develop a topiary in a planter. Do you think this will work for awhile? Or should I instead start immediately in the ground?
Apr 27, 2010 @ 01:13:34
We bought ours about 10 years ago and though much smaller it was already shaped like a lollypop/topiary.
If you want to grow yours in the garden, I will prefer to move it straight in the ground as it will grow better and quicker than in a pot.
If you prefer to grow it in a container, then you can move the plant in a bigger pot. The plant has to be repotted into bigger container every 2 years or so to be healthy. Later if you feel that the plant is much too big and too hard to repot, then the option is to move it permanently in the ground.
You can shape the plant straight away if possible, but if it is still very small, wait until the plant has grown a bit larger.
Good Luck:)
Mar 20, 2012 @ 18:36:13
We just planted these in our yard and would like to know if they attract hummingbirds and butterflies.
Mar 20, 2012 @ 20:56:07
I’m not sure about hummingbirds, but they do attract a lot of bees and few small butterflies.