Golden Chain Tree

Laburnum anagyroides Origin: Bulgaria Improvement status: Unknown Seeds per packet: ~30 BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED Life cycle: Perennial Golden chain tree (also called common laburnum or golden rain tree) is an unforgettable European leguminous tree. Once you see one, you can't help but want it in your life. That actually happened to EFN co-founder Nate Kleinman when he was a small child — and his indulgent parents eventually made his little dreams come true by planting one in their front yard in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. What makes the tree so spectacular are its long racemes of yellow sweet-pea-like flowers with a splash of red in the center of their upper lips. They resemble locust flowers and wisteria flowers, but in a gleaming yellow that marks laburnum as something else entirely. But it's not just beautiful! While no part of the plant is edible (and the small seeds contain poisonous alkaloids), the wood is hard and heavy with a beautiful yellow/brown color that dar