Broom

I have a large yellow flowering broom which, unfortunately, was left to its own devices for a few years & ended up bent over on to my path. It still flowered, but, I wanted to straighten it back up, back into the flower bed where it should be. With help, I got it tied back to the fence behind it, but, already it's starting to lean again. I had a smaller red flowering broom moved in the summer, which quickly turned brown & still is. The other brooms, which have not been moved, are green. Even though I had the red broom moved with as much of its own soil as possible & into a bigger hole, it seems to have died a death. It's tied to the fence as it was also neglected & was flowering only from the top due to lack of sunlight @ the bottom. I'm loathed to attempt to move the large yellow broom - even to just give it more room & straighten it up - as I fear i'll lose it like the red one. Does anyone have any experience with re-planting brooms? Would appreciate any advice anyone can give. Thank you...Pauline3700

 

Dont think they can be moved very sucsessfully Pauline, its one of those shrubs that doesn't take any root disturbance.
Its better to grow some new plants from seed, they grow fast, and cut back after flowering to stop them getting top heavy.

 

Yep, I would go along with that. Broom is a legeumeous plant, ie it's root sytem has a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria. This relationship allows it to grow on very poor soil because it can take nitrogen from the air as well as the soil and wild broom is an early coloniser of open ground or heathland. This fixing takes place within nodules on the roots and any root disturbance is likely to kill the plant as you have found out.

It is possible to move young plants providing the rootball isn't disturbed but frankly it's not worth the effort. Just grow new plants from seed in late spring and they will soon fill any gaps. Hybrids are unlikely to have seeds come to type so it's better to buy a packet of new seeds.

They do grow tall and leggy (especially if the ground is too rich, so don't feed them) and can slump with the wind and rain so re-enforce the centre of the bush with a good stake and keep them trimmed to the height and shape you want.

Broom are robust, will take punishment from wind, drought and freezing cold but don't like to be waterlogged. Some varieties are very pretty but others can have a heavy smell reminicent of oil seed rape and I know from personal experience they can be a migrane trigger so if you are susceptable I would stay away from the highly scented pale yellow ones (wild boom or similar dark coloured hybrids are not normally a problem)

[ 31. December 2005, 12:43 AM: Message edited by: frogesque ]

 

Thank you both very much for your advice, it was most welcome. I have to say that the yellow broom is only a few feet from my bedroom window & I actually like the scent from it. I'll be sorry to see it go, but, as it's not going to survive the move, I have no choice but to replace it. Replacing it does have its advantages - I get to shop for more plants, lol.

Thank you both again & I wish you both a very Happy New Year.