Common Broom | Delivered by Mail Order from our UK Nursery
Description of Cytisus scoparius:
Known as Common Broom or Scotch Broom, this native, bushy shrub can be found growing wild all over the UK, often in poor soils.
It has thin, ridged green stems and excellent yellow flowers in May to June. These ripen into dark seed pods. If the summer is hot and dry, you can hear them cracking open.
Cytisus scoparius is a decent plant for adding some colour to a mixed hedge or general planting in poor soils.
Browse all our pot grown plants for year round delivery or have a look at our bareroot hedging plants for winter planting (Nov-Mar delivery only).
Characteristics of Common Broom Plants:
- Thrives in very poor soil.
- Fixes nitrogen, improving the soil for other plants.
- Leaves: Thin, whippy green fronds, no special autumn colour.
- Flowers: Masses of beautiful yellow blooms, similar to those of peas.
- Fruit: Hard seed pods.
- Natural Height: 2-3 metres.
Growing Cytisus scoparius:
Tolerates light shade.
Needs good drainage.
Hates shallow chalk, but will otherwise tolerate alkaline soil.
Mildly acid soil is fine.
Dry, poor soil is fine.
Very cold hardy.
Happy on the coast.
Spacing:
33 cms / 1 foot apart in a hedge.
Planting Ideas:
Because broom fixes nitrogen into the soil, it is an excellent choice for a mixed hedge where the soil quality is poor. By putting in a broom plant every 3-4 plants, you will make a significant improvement to the soil for all the others.
Background Information & History of Cytisus scoparius:
Broom's thin leaves and whippy stems make it ideal for using as a broom and it was also common in thatching. It was used in some old medicines, but we don't recommend trying it today.
In the late 1800's, it was sold for gardens in California. Today, it is an invasive nuisance in many areas of Western America.
Old & Local Names for Broom: Spartium scoparium. Genista scoparius. Sarothamnus scoparius. Broom Tops. Irish Tops. Basam. Bisom. Bizzom. Browme. Brum. Breeam. Green Broom.
Read our full terms and conditions here.
Delivery: The basic delivery charge for orders of bareroot plants is £9.49 + vat, which increases to £12.55 + vat if you add any pot-grown plants, standard trees or fruit trees to the order.
Because couriers sometimes experience delays, we schedule delivery by week, not by day. Therefore, please plan your planting day for the weekend at the end of the delivery week or for the week following delivery, at the earliest.
You can choose the delivery week that suits you during checkout and we will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.
Payment: We do not charge your card until we begin to prepare your order for packing.
Guarantee: If any plants die within a year, we will replace them. We only ask that you follow our planting & growing instructions and sent us clear photographs of the dead plants in situ, so we can help to make sure that the replacement plants succeed. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.
Please note that our guarantee is void if there is a hosepipe ban in your area: your newly planted hedging must be watered in dry weather while it is establishing. The best way to water is very thoroughly every few days: at least once a week if there is no heavy rain.
Our nursery has been supplying container grown and bareroot hedging plants to gardeners, farmers and town planners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying hedging plants online. If any of your plants are damaged when they arrive or if you are otherwise not satisfied with your order after you inspect it, please repackage it and contact us. We will give you a refund or send replacements and send a courier to come and collect the unwanted plants.
