Genista tinctoria 'ROYAL GOLD'

Dyer's greenweed is a Europan plant whose natural habitat stretches from dry and hot, southern plains to colder and moist landscape of lower Scandinavia. It dislikes growing on the mountains not because of cold weather but for its preference of deep soil.

Royal Gold is a dyer's greenweed variety with extended blooming period. It produces masses of small, rich yellow flowers formed in erect racemes from late June for about a month, and then continues producing short racemes of scattered flowers through to September. Deciduous leaves are small, narrowly ovate to shortly lance-shaped, rich green, and glossy. Stems are green all season long, and are topped with a small thorn, supposedly as a protection against cattle - the plant contains toxins highly dangerous for them.

Greenweed forms dense bushes and usually does not require pruning. Yet it can be trimmed in early spring by maximum one third, but never cut into older wood. Natural habit is rounded with upright branches, or rounded with flat tops when pruned. It looks great combined with plants of similar features such as rosemary-leaved shrubs, or those with xeriscape appearance such as thick-leaved succulents or yuccas, mulched with gravel.

It likes sun and heat but is very hardy. Use it in garden beds, borders, or larger rockeries with well-drained, dry to moderately moist, deep soil. It withstands drought better than water-logging. Hardy to about -32°C (USDA zone 4).

Last update 20-03-2018