Chimeric laburnum in the garden

Chimeric laburnum - a tricolor beauty

The chimeric laburnum is a very special plant: on the same tree, on the same branch, flowers of different colors grow - flesh-colored, bright yellow and pink flowers.

• Nature has only managed this "feat" once. In 1825, the gardener Adam grafted a purple gorse onto a laburnum trunk in his nursery near Paris. The gardener also gave the chimeric laburnum its Latin name: Laburnocytisus adamii.
• The grafting created a "chimera" - a graft bastard. This is a complex plant organism that combines different plant genes in one plant. This diversity brings the plant through, among other things different flowers to expression. Chimeras arise extremely rarely in the plant world.
instagram viewer
• The chimeric laburnum is propagated exclusively by grafting onto the common laburnum anagyroides. All attempts to horticulturally create this special chimera have so far failed.

Botanical information on Laburnocytisus adamii

• The chimeric laburnum belongs to the botanical family of the butterflies and grows to a large one shrub respectively. small tree that reaches a height of three meters. The wood is up to 30 years old.


Cutting the laburnum

With its magnificent flowers, the laburnum is a feast for the eyes. You should cut ...

• The tree is a deciduous plant with three-part pinnate leaves. The leaf shape is a bit reminiscent of shamrocks.
• The yellow flower clusters of the tree are up to 30 centimeters long. They hang down from the branches. The pink and flesh-colored grapes are significantly shorter.
• The chimeric laburnum delights you with its blooming splendor just in time for the merry month of May through to July.
• As is so often the case in the plant world, the beautiful and the dangerous are close together in this plant. All parts of the small tree contain the very poisonous alkaloids cytisine, laburnine and N-methylcitisine. The greatest concentration of the toxins is in the dark brown to black seeds of the plant.
• These highly toxic seeds are found in six to eight centimeters long, bean-like pods. Just three to four pods, i.e. 15 to 20 seeds, are a lethal dose for humans. First, nausea and vomiting as well as a state of excitement occur, which is noticeable, for example, by a racing heart. This leads to symptoms of paralysis, which can lead to fatal respiratory paralysis within hours to days.
• dogs, Cats and rodents - such as guinea pigs and rabbits - but also birds, horses, cows and goats are at risk of poisoning. For example, the lethal dose of seeds for a horse is 200 to 300 grams.
• If you have small children or pets in your household, you should avoid this sapling in your garden as a precaution.

Location and care instructions for the ornamental shrub

• The chimeric laburnum prefers nutrient-rich, loose and calcareous soils.
• It thrives most luxuriantly in full sun to partially shaded locations.
• Provide the tree with ripe in the spring compost and dried cattle manure. With this spring fertilization, the optimal nutrient supply of the chimera is ensured for the rest of the year. There is no need for further substrate, the small tree is quite undemanding.
• It is not necessary to cut back the tree or remove the bloomed flower clusters.
• Even if "Father Frost" should be in top form in winter - you don't have to worry about the chimeric laburnum. The small tree is very hardy.
• You can expect an annual growth of 20 to 25 centimeters in the wood.

Planting instructions for your colorful laburnum

You can buy a chimeric laburnum with a root ball. That means you can put it in the spring. If you water it regularly, planting is possible until midsummer.

1. Before you put the plant in the ground, moisten the root ball well.
2. Dig a spacious planting hole and loosen the soil well all around.
3. Then place the plant in the planting hole so that the surface can still be covered with a thin layer of soil.
4. Thoroughly pound the soil around the tree and water the plant well.

With the lush tricolor of its flowers, the chimeric laburnum easily replaces a bed of flowers. Give it enough space so that it can unfold its full beauty. The unmistakable little tree in the front yard set. However, due to the toxicity of the golden rain, the tree is not suitable for every garden.