Gorse

Gorse: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Dense, rounded shrub of 1–2 m, evergreen and spiny all over.

Leaf

Mature plants have only stiff green spines of 1–2.5 cm; seedlings have trifoliate leaves.

Bark

Green, grooved twigs, with spines everywhere.

Flower

Golden-yellow pea flowers with a coconut scent, mainly in March–May, but a few almost all year round.

Fruit

Hairy pods that snap open in summer.

Difference from broom

Broom has no spines, but green, broom-like twigs.

Difference from sea buckthorn

Sea buckthorn has silvery-grey leaves and orange berries.

Flowering: February–May · Pruning: May–June

Identify by feature: Yellow flowers in spring · Winter flowers · Pods · Thorns or prickles

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Broom Cytisus scoparius: no spines, but green, broom-like twigs. Difference from broom
• Sea buckthorn Hippophae rhamnoides: silvery-grey leaves and orange berries. Difference from sea buckthorn

Why grow it?

• Coconut-scented yellow flowers in spring, and a few almost all year round.
• Evergreen and impenetrable: a safe nesting place for birds.
• Early flowers for bees and bumblebees.
• Grows on poor, dry, sandy soil and fixes its own nitrogen.

Gorse: where does it grow best?

• Full sun; in shade it goes bare and hardly flowers.
• Poor, dry, acid, sandy soil; not on chalky or wet soil.
• Allow 1.5 m width, a little more over the years.
• Keep it away from the house, sheds and wooden fences: it burns very easily.

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: Together a patch of heath: yellow flowers in spring, purple in late summer.
• Broom: Flowers yellow a little later; together a long yellow display on sandy soil.
• Common juniper: Also evergreen and at home on the heath: together a sturdy, green winter scene.

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, broom, 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

Gorse: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant young pot-grown plants: it has a deep taproot and dislikes being moved.
2. Plant in spring, so that it is well rooted before winter.
3. No compost or manure in the planting hole: on poor soil it stays compact.
4. For a hedge: 2–3 plants per metre. Wear thick gloves.

Care

Watering

Only just after planting; after that it tolerates drought.

Feeding

Never needed: it fixes its own nitrogen.

Clearing up

Remove dead, dry material under and inside the shrub: it makes it even more flammable.

Keeping it dense

A light trim every year after flowering keeps the shrub dense and green down to the base.

Tip: Smell the flowers on a warm, sunny day: that is when the coconut scent is strongest.

Gorse: when to prune it?

Pruning months: May–June.

When: After the main flowering, in May–June.

How:

• Trim back the year’s growth, so that the shrub stays dense and compact.
• Don’t cut into old wood.
• Clip a hedge once a year, straight after flowering.

Caution: Wear thick gloves and long sleeves: the spines go through thin fabric. Don’t prune if birds are nesting in the shrub.

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.

Self-sown seedlings

Seedlings often come up around an old shrub: dig them up while very young, with a good root ball.

Gorse: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Evergreen; even in winter a single flower often opens.
• Somewhat frost-tender: in hard winters it can turn brown and be killed back. Wait until May–June to cut out the dead parts.

Diseases and pests

• Fire risk: The oil-rich twigs and dead material make it burn very easily. Don’t plant it against buildings and don’t light fires nearby.
• Frost damage: Brown, dead twigs after a hard winter. Cut them out after flowering.
• Bare at the base: An old or shaded shrub goes bare at the base. Give it full sun and trim back the year’s growth every year after flowering.

Through the year

• January: A few flowers, even in midwinter.
• March: Main flowering begins: coconut scent on sunny days.
• April: Full flower; sowing and planting.
• May: Flowering ends; prune after flowering, but watch out for nests.
• June: Last pruning: trim back the year’s growth.
• July: Pods snap open in the sun.

What can you use it for?

For wildlife

Dense, thorny nesting site for birds; flowers for bees in early spring.

Garden and landscape

Impenetrable evergreen hedge on acid, sandy soil.

Caution: Burns very easily. A dreaded invasive species elsewhere in the world.

Good for wildlife

Birds

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

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Bumblebees

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

Caterpillars

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

Did you know?

• ‘When gorse is out of blossom, kissing’s out of fashion,’ goes an English saying: it is almost always flowering a little.
• After a fire the seeds actually germinate en masse: the heat cracks their hard seed coat.
• In Brittany the young shoots used to be crushed as winter fodder for horses.
• The young shoots were once crushed, sometimes in special gorse mills, and fed to horses and cattle in winter.
• Its seeds stay viable in the soil for decades. After a fire, gorse quickly resprouts and the seeds germinate in large numbers.