"Franz Heymann" wrote in message ...
"papanix" wrote in message
...
Would anyone have any experience of using gorse in gardens? I
particularly need information on growth rate, how it responds to
pruning, how invasive it is, how it spreads itself, any recommended
cultivars (of the handful that exist)? many thanks if you can help. I
have serched google but in vain so far.

By and large "Gorse as a garden plant" is a contradiction in terms. {:-((

I've experimented with it, just for fun, in a mixed shrubbery, and it
looked very fine -- you can have flowers at almost any time of year;
but I grubbed them out in the end because there are so many wild ones
round here that they always looked as though they had got in by
accident. In a town garden, it wouldn't have that disadvantage: it
could make rather a good and pretty-vandal-resistant hedge, as it
responds indestructibly to pruning, neglect, poor soil, drought, maybe
even nuclear holocaust. The spines are cruel; but if you like them,
I'd go for it.

Note that I had to grub them out: they spring up happily from the base
if you merely cut them to the ground, or set fire to them. They're
highly inflammable, so some of the books recommend keeping them away
from buildings or wooden fences.

They spread only by seed, so they're not really invasive as long as
you're prepared to get the seedlings out as they appear.

There are two or three cultivars, including a double-flowered form;
but I don't know their names. If you go out into the country looking
for suitable mother-plants for cuttings (ouch!), you'll probably
notice some variation in "leaf" and flower shade: I think the nicest
is the more lemon-yellow flower, if you can find one.

There are three species in the wild in Britain: the commonest can
reach eight feet in height, while the Dwarf Gorse is sometimes
prostrate.

The wood is tough, and I once half-made a walking-stick out of it.
Somebody I know made a Welsh love-spoon out of it, carving it when
still green and easy to work.

Mike.