AMERICAN YELLOWWOOD  (Cladrastis kentukea)

Glorious drooping panicles of fragrant white flowers put on a great show in early summer.  The flowers are luxurious 6 to 10 inch clusters are fragrant and it is  a bee magnet. It is prized for its smooth, silvery bark, “second-best to beech” .  The yellowwood doesn’t bloom until trees are over 12 feet tall, and then the blooms are best every second or even third year.  Fall foliage is a soft yellow, thus its common name Yellowwood.  It grows 30 to 50 feet tall with a wider spread.  Prune it from an early age to encourage a graceful mature form.  Yellowwood is native to the mid-Atlantic and the Midwest.  They are now very rare in the wild.  Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.

American Yellowwood in Bloom

A Group of Yellowwood's In Fall Colors

Share/Bookmark