Specialty Gardening: Will scotch broom survive winter?, 1 by DaleTheGardener

DaleTheGardener wrote:
Daisy,

Scotch broom does not produce air borne pollen. Take a look at the flower and you will see that it needs to be forced open, by bees, to get the pollen from flower to flower. Plants that have pollen that travels through the air does not have a flower scent. Plants use scent to attaract pollen carriers. Lastly, it is a plant that is the first to colonize an area, areas where few other plants will grow easily and it is a legume. In all the places broom grows it can only grow in distrubed/barren ground, usually the result of human activity. In Scotland it is an important part of the ecosystem, in the Pacific states (including CA) it means someone has trashed the area and native plants can't get a start. In the hills of CA (read San Francisco Bay Area) it will be replaced by the native oaks when given time. That is just my point of view. Your right it is a weed, but, a good weed all things considered.

Caladium humboldi-