Growing and maintaining a golden Chain tree (laburmum vossi)

I have been trying to grow this little beauty for about ten years with very little success. I have bought seedlings and grown from seeds. Neither method has given me a tree that will flower as shown in pictures that I see in books. At most ,I can seem to get only one or two years before the tree dies. I have tried various locations,from dry and well drained ground to almost sloppy ground at the edge of a lake. I have tried hard clay,sandy and well moist ground. I presently have two in tall plastic pots about 8-10" in diameter and about 2' tall. They both were grown from seed two years ago and have lived two winters here in northern Mississippi ,which is temp zone 6. If anyone has had success with this tree and can give me some tips on keeping them alive I will greatly appreciate the news.

Move to somewhere with cool summers! In the wild, Laburnum is a high altitude mountain tree and can't cope with your summer heat.

Resin

I planted one about 12 feet from my house on the east side. It gets morning sun but is shaded from the hot afternoon sun and heat by the shadow of the house. It shows no sign of disease although it isn't exactly thriving like the ones in the garden magazines. I planted it in April of 2001. Here it is in May of 2005. I will wait and see how it blooms this year.

If you like yellow-flowering trees you might want to plant the golden rain instead. It grows like a weed just about anywhere.

This message was edited Apr 22, 2008 4:11 PM

I had a Laburnum x watereri 'Vossi' which grew and flowered well here. It was shaded from the worst of the afternoon sun. The edges of the leaves wanted to crisp a bit but not so much that it distracted from the overall good looks of the tree. Gorgeous in bloom. Why don't I still have it? My husband backed his behemoth of a 1974 Norton Commando motorcycle into it and cracked the trunk - twice. Passive agressive behaviour against trees in the path of motorcycle storage sheds is a topic for another forum.

I hate to say this but they are a bit of a weed here. I pull them out of the garden regularly as I don't want something so big there. The best trees are planted amongst other trees & shrubs and maybe this gives a little extra summer cooling. They have a terrible habit of getting "crotch-rot" where debris collects in the crotch of the tree and then it starts splitting and finally falls apart. They seem to do better in poor soil that isn't too organic. I agree with what Resin mentioned - they like cool summers and don't appreciate heat. These ones are planted in a cool spot on the north side of an embankment.

Mine is blooming now! I just had to share. I think the protective afternoon shade of the house allows it to grow in hot Alabama. You might try it.

Passiflora_pink; thanks for sharing the experience with your tree. I too have tried this trees for several years. Like Tom, I've moved mine to various location in the garden and last year I left it in a protective sheltered shady area in garden. It was a little less than 2 feet tall. And after 2-3 years, I didn't see any growth in size, but it's still green. lol. Maybe another 10 years, who know? I'll wait and see.

I planted mine April of 2001. It is about 12 feet tall now but hasn't branched out much. And it hasn't exactly been coddled; grass has grown right up to the trunk. I have a lot of trees so one might think that I have some knowledge of horticulture but intead it has been trial and error all the way...stay with it!

I had a successful year with this tree again. Eight years now (May 6, 2009)

Yes they can grow in hot and humid Alabama:

Nice long clusters here.

Mine kicked the bucket last year. :(( I'm happy for you PFP.