Broom

Broom: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Upright, broom-like shrub of 1–2 m with many green twigs.

Leaf

Small, trifoliate leaves (1–2 cm) that soon drop; the green twigs do the work.

Bark

Green, angular, broom-like twigs, green even in winter; old stems brown.

Flower

Golden-yellow pea flowers (2 cm) in May–June, all along the twigs.

Fruit

Flat, hairy pods that turn black and audibly snap open in the summer sun.

Difference from gorse

Gorse has green spines instead of ordinary twigs.

Flowering: May–June · Pruning: June–July

Identify by feature: Yellow flowers in spring · Pods

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Gorse Ulex europaeus: green spines instead of ordinary twigs. Difference from gorse

Why grow it?

• Golden-yellow flowers in May–June, good for bumblebees and bees.
• Green in winter thanks to its green twigs.
• Grows on poor, dry, acid, sandy soil where little else will, and fixes its own nitrogen.
• Fits into a heather garden or wildlife garden; the seeds are food for birds.

Broom: where does it grow best?

• Full sun.
• Poor, dry, free-draining soil, ideally acid sand; on chalky or wet soil it languishes.
• Allow 1.5 m width.
• Lovely in a heather garden, on a bank or at a sunny woodland edge.

Light

Full sun

Legal basis

Acid soil

Moisture

Dry

Size

2 m tall, 1.5 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Heather: Purple in August–September on the same poor, acid, sandy soil.
• Gorse: Another yellow pea-flowered shrub of the heath; flowers earlier and is spiny.
• Scots pine: Broom flowers at the sunny edge of a pine wood, as on the Kempen heaths.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Likes the acid soil near: scots pine, black pine, weymouth pine, english oak, sessile oak, giant redwood
• Like acid soil, just like this plant: heather, rhododendron, japanese skimmia, raspberry, highbush blueberry, witch hazel, gorse, camellia

Best kept away from

• Do not plant under the dense crown of these trees: norway spruce, european silver fir, nordmann fir, douglas fir, yew, horse chestnut, norway maple, sycamore

Broom: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant young pot-grown plants: broom has a deep taproot and dislikes being moved.
2. Plant in spring (March–April) or in early autumn.
3. No compost or manure in the planting hole: on rich soil it grows floppy and falls open.
4. Don’t plant it where young children play, nor next to a field with horses or livestock.

Care

Watering

Only just after planting; after that it copes perfectly with drought.

Feeding

Never needed: it fixes its own nitrogen from the air.

Seedlings

It self-seeds nearby: pull up unwanted seedlings while they are small.

Replacing

After a number of years broom becomes bare and woody: replace it with a young plant.

Tip: Leave a few seedlings as a reserve: broom is not very long-lived, and this way you always have a young plant ready.

Broom: when to prune it?

Pruning months: June–July.

When: Straight after flowering.

How:

• Cut the faded shoots back by half: the shrub stays dense and flowers well again next year.
• Never cut into the old, bare wood: broom won’t regrow from it.
• An old, bare shrub is better replaced by a young plant.

Caution: Prune before the pods ripen: it will self-seed less. Clear up the prunings, as they are poisonous to animals.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Sowing

Soak the hard seeds overnight in warm water and sow them in spring straight into small pots: seedlings dislike being transplanted.

Broom: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• The green twigs add colour even in winter.

Diseases and pests

• Bare and floppy: Old shrubs go bare at the base and fall open. Prune every year after flowering and replace an old shrub.
• Languishing: On wet, heavy or chalky soil it turns yellow and dies. Choose dry, acid, sandy soil.
• Self-seeding: Seedlings everywhere nearby. Prune after flowering, before the pods burst, and weed out seedlings while small.

Through the year

• March: Planting: young pot-grown plants.
• April: Sowing, after soaking overnight.
• May: Flowering: golden-yellow pea flowers.
• June: Flowering ends; prune straight afterwards.
• July: Last pruning, before the pods ripen.
• August: Pods snap open audibly in the sun.
• September: Planting can start again.
• December: Green twigs in winter.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Golden-yellow spring flowers on poor, acid, sandy soil.

For wildlife

Fixes nitrogen; the flowers are good for bumblebees and the seeds for birds.

Caution: Poisonous to people and animals.

Good for wildlife

Bumblebees

Nectar and pollen for bumblebees, also from deep flowers and early in spring.

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Caterpillars

Host plant: caterpillars of butterflies or moths eat the leaves.

Birds

Berries, seeds or insects as food, or a place to nest.

Did you know?

• Brooms were once made from it, hence the scientific name scoparius (broom).
• The English royal house of Plantagenet owes its name to a sprig of broom (planta genista) that Geoffrey of Anjou wore in his hat.
• In the summer sun the ripe pods audibly snap open and fling out the seeds; ants then carry them further.
• The English royal house of Plantagenet owes its name to broom, planta genista in Latin: Geoffrey of Anjou is said to have worn a sprig of it as his emblem.
• Broom flowers have no nectar. When a bumblebee lands, the stamens spring out explosively and dust its back with pollen.