Labernum also known as 'Golden Chain' or 'Golden Rain' is on full display at the moment. Its striking bright yellow chain flowers are incredibly eye-catching. Here I will go through a few tips on how to grow them and what kind of care they need.
It is a deciduous tree that can reach heights of up to 25ft and can also be trained to grow up and around arches and frames. It's very well suited to our climate here being frost hardy down to -20C! It does tend to do better in alkaline soil so if you have acidic soil you should treat it by digging in a bit of lime such as Westland Garden Lime 4kg.
They like either full sun or partially shaded areas, when placed in full shade they tend to struggle a bit and end up a bit stunted.
You can buy Labernum in various different sizes, if you are intending on growing it over an arch or around a frame I would suggest getting a younger plant around 50-60cm in height, this will allow you to train it while the wood is softer so it can be more easily bent (gently) to tie.
When placed beside a frame, dig a hole a few cm bigger than the root ball being sure to leave enough distance (5-7cm) between the frame or wall you intend to grow it up. As mentioned above they do slightly prefer alkaline soil so mix in a little lime in the soil surrounding. If there is sufficient growth at the top of the plant, gently (don't strain the branch) tie the first few branches to your frame using soft ties such as Gardman Adjustable Plant Ties. Once it starts getting established you should prune any wayward going branches back and tie off the ones growing the direction you want.
You can also get Labernum as a standard tree and it looks fantastic when placed either as a centrepiece in a garden or hanging over the side of a pond.
Labernum is actually a fairly low maintenance plant/tree and once it gets established there shouldn't be any need to feed it. The one thing to be mindful of when pruning however is that it is very poisonous. If you ever have to do any large cut backs with saws etc. it is strongly advised that you wear a mask as the dust is dangerous when inhaled. With general secateurs pruning just wear gloves and wash your hands well afterwards.
As far as diseases and pests go Labernum is generally a hardy one, it can get powdery mildew in damper conditions but usually not too severely. Equally aphids might have a go but if there are other plants around you can guarantee they'll go for them rather than the Labernum! The one thing it can suffer badly with is Twig Blight, this causes the smaller branches to die off and can be disastrous. The best way to deal with it is to prune back any infected twigs and branches as soon as they appear. Most fungicides aren't great at treating it but applying something like Fungus Fighter RTU 1l to any freshly pruned areas may discourage it.
So next time you are looking for a spring/summer showstopper piece maybe consider whether a Labernum arch or standard would be just the thing for your garden :)
