{"product_id":"kentucky-yellowwood-tree-seeds-american-yellowwood-cladrastis-kentukea","title":"Kentucky Yellowwood Tree Seeds | American Yellowwood | (Cladrastis kentukea)","description":"\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhite wisteria-like flowers. The rarest native tree most people have never heard of.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCladrastis kentukea\u003c\/em\u003e, the Kentucky Yellowwood or American Yellowwood, is one of the most beautiful and most underplanted native flowering trees in North America, producing cascading clusters of fragrant white flowers up to 14 inches long in late spring that hang from every branch in a display that stops traffic and makes visitors demand to know what the tree is. It blooms heavily every other year in an alternating pattern, with a massive year of flowering followed by a relatively quiet year, which makes the heavy bloom years particularly spectacular. Native to a small, disjunct range across the limestone hills of Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Ozarks, it is genuinely rare in the wild but performs beautifully across a wide range of eastern gardens and is completely cold-hardy in zone 3. If you are looking to buy Kentucky Yellowwood seeds or grow this extraordinary native from seed, this is the flowering tree that landscape professionals know and general gardeners discover once and never forget.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eCascading clusters of fragrant white flowers up to 14 inches long hanging from every branch in late spring\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eFlowers in an alternating heavy-light pattern, with spectacular flowering years every other year\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eSmooth, beech-like gray bark beautiful in every season including winter\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eNative but genuinely rare in the wild, cold-hardy to zone 3 while remaining adapted to southern landscapes\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eBrilliant yellow fall color, the most vivid fall display of any white-flowering native tree\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThings you probably did not know about the Kentucky Yellowwood\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe wood is bright yellow inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e When freshly cut, the heartwood of Kentucky Yellowwood is a vivid canary yellow, produced by the same flavonoid compounds that color the wood of many legume family trees. The wood of Kentucky Yellowwood was historically used for small cabinetry pieces where the yellow color was decorative, though the tree is too rare and slow-growing to have been a commercial timber species. The yellow color fades to brown over time with light exposure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt belongs to the legume family and fixes nitrogen like beans and peas.\u003c\/strong\u003e Kentucky Yellowwood is a member of the Fabaceae family, the legume family, and like all legumes it forms associations with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in its root nodules that convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form plants can use. This nitrogen-fixing ability means Kentucky Yellowwood enriches the soil around it as it grows, improving conditions for companion plantings and successor plants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe alternating bloom pattern is not unique to Yellowwood but is more dramatic in it than most trees.\u003c\/strong\u003e Many flowering trees produce heavy bloom crops in alternating years as the energy budget of flowering in a heavy year depletes reserves that require a full season to replenish. In Kentucky Yellowwood this alternating pattern is particularly pronounced, with the heavy years producing such an overwhelming flower display that the light years are noticeably different. The heavy years produce so much flower fragrance that the tree can be smelled from a considerable distance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt was first documented by European botanists only in 1796.\u003c\/strong\u003e Despite being native to North America, Kentucky Yellowwood was one of the last major native trees to be scientifically described, first documented by the French botanist André Michaux in 1796 during his extensive travels through the American interior. The restricted and scattered native range, entirely within inland areas not frequently visited by early coastal botanists, explains the late discovery of a tree that was known to Indigenous peoples of Kentucky and Tennessee for centuries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrowing Details\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBotanical Name:\u003c\/strong\u003e Cladrastis kentukea\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eStratification:\u003c\/strong\u003e Required, scarification followed by 30 to 60 days cold stratification\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eUSDA Zones:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 to 8\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSoil:\u003c\/strong\u003e Well-drained, adaptable to limestone and calcareous soils, tolerates a range of conditions\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLight:\u003c\/strong\u003e Full sun to partial shade\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHeight:\u003c\/strong\u003e 30 to 50 feet\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSpread:\u003c\/strong\u003e 40 to 55 feet\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGrowth Rate:\u003c\/strong\u003e Moderate, 1 to 1.5 feet per year\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePlant it where you will see it from outside in May during a heavy bloom year. The first time you see it in full flower you will understand why every arborist who knows it plants it given the chance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Evergreen Seed Co.","offers":[{"title":"5 Seeds","offer_id":52616437399874,"sku":"KY-YELLOWWOOD-5","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"10 Seeds","offer_id":52616437432642,"sku":"KY-YELLOWWOOD-10","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"25 Seeds","offer_id":52616437465410,"sku":"KY-YELLOWWOOD-25","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"40 Seeds","offer_id":52616437498178,"sku":"KY-YELLOWWOOD-40","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"100 Seeds","offer_id":52616437530946,"sku":"KY-YELLOWWOOD-100","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/5456\/4674\/files\/ky_yellowood_2000_x_1500_px_3.png?v=1774194740","url":"https:\/\/evergreenseedco.com\/products\/kentucky-yellowwood-tree-seeds-american-yellowwood-cladrastis-kentukea","provider":"Evergreen Seed Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}