Now here's a plant that's rarely on the local radar: Sweet broom. That's 'cause it won't last the winters around these parts. But it's extraordinary. Bright yellow blossoms in spring on stems with sweet pea-like leaves, which makes sense because this big mounded shrub is actually a member of the pea family. And so fragrant. After even a mild winter, the scent is heavenly. We think of all we've missed since last summer.
This sweet broom's at Longwood. How dramatic, wand over wand of yellow, especially in the cloudy light of early spring. Imagine hillsides of these in their native habitat in the Canary Islands. At Longwood they're paired with gray-leaved euryops, a plant from South Africa that's in the daisy family.
The good news is that there's a hardy broom out there that works in zones 4-9. (Our area is mostly 6 and 7). I found a good one online - Spanish gold hardy broom or Cytisus purgans. It gets about four feet high and six feet wide, supposedly not too tempting to deer (ha) with a recommended underplanting of nepeta, or catmint, that tough, purple-flowering plant that answers a variety of garden problems.
Catmint and broom. Sounds like a blues act.
