Wikimedia Commons
Fabaceae
Yellowwood
Cladrastis kentukea
Patience, rare beauty, slow grace.
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Genus
- Cladrastis
- Native to
- Southeastern United States
- Bloom season
- Late-Spring
- Type
- Tree
- Height
- 9–15 m (30–50 ft)
- Sunlight
- Full sun
- Soil
- Rich, well-drained, slightly alkaline
- Water
- Moderate
- Hardiness
- 4–8
- Lifespan
- Long-lived (100+ years)
Did you know
- Yellowwoods are notorious for blooming heavily only every 2–4 years—when they do, they produce huge cascading wisteria-like clusters of white pea flowers up to a foot long.
- The wood is bright yellow when freshly cut—early American settlers used it as a yellow dye for wool and as a substitute for European fustic dye in textile mills.
- Yellowwood is one of the rarest trees in the wild—it grows naturally only in a few isolated valleys of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky, where it's been protected since 1873.
- Despite its rarity in the wild, yellowwood is one of the easiest large trees to grow in cultivation—and it's deer-resistant, which makes it a favorite of suburban gardeners.
- The flowers smell intensely sweet, like a mix of vanilla and wisteria—pollinators travel great distances to find a yellowwood in bloom, and the air around it hums for 2–3 weeks in May.
Color meanings
0
patience
1
rare beauty
2
slow grace