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Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Native Plants < Native Plant Database < Cladrastis kentuckea

American Yellowwood
Gopherwood
Cladrastis kentuckea

There are so many aspects to yellowwood’s beauty—supremely smooth beech-like bark, blue-green summer leaves, soft yellow and gold fall color… The list goes on and on. But the greatest of all of yellowwood’s glories are its flowers. Fragrant, snowy white, and wisteria-like, they bloom in late spring in lavish pendulous clusters up to 16" long. Some years the flowers are so abundant that trees are nearly covered in garlands of bee-beckoning white.

—Which brings us to yellowwood’s one slightly less attractive trait. That is, it’s not exactly a consistent bloomer. Trees tend to bloom extravagantly one year, then take the next year or two off, then bloom riotously again. But don’t let this dissuade you from planting a yellowwood. The fabulous flowers are definitely worth the wait, and (we promise) the beautiful leaves and bark never take breaks.

Family:  Fabaceae (Legume Family)

Description: Medium-sized deciduous tree with 8 to 12" pinnately compound leaves composed of 7 to 9 oval-shaped leaflets. 10 to 16" clusters of fragrant white flowers bloom in May to early June. Flattened green seedpods turn brown in October.

Size: 40 to 50’ high and wide.

Growth Rate: Slow; less than a foot a year.

Habit: Medium-sized, low-branching tree with a rounded crown.

Light: Sun to part shade.

Planting and Care: Plant in spring in moist, rich, well-drained, alkaline or moderately acidic soils. Narrow branch angles and brittle wood leave trees prone to storm damage, so site in a protected spot. Corrective pruning can be performed when trees are young to eliminate weak branch forks. Prune in summer to avoid the profuse bleeding that occurs in winter.

Ornamental Value: Assets include smooth gray bark, long chains of fragrant white flowers in June, and golden fall foliage.

Landscape Usage: Use as a specimen or lawn tree or in groupings. This is a great shade tree for smaller properties.

Wildlife Benefits: Bees visit the flowers for nectar.

Native Habitat: Found only in the Blue Ridge and Ridge and Valley regions of Georgia, usually on limestone cliffs and ridges and in Appalachian cove forests. Very rare in the wild.

Propagation: Scarified or stratified seed, dormant root cuttings.

Text and photo by Leslie Kimel, Georgia Wildlife Federation