Colutea media Copper Beauty

Colutea x media Copper Beauty is a variety of hybrid Bladder Senna with a beautiful copper-orange flowering. It blooms from spring to summer in the form of clusters of papilionaceous flowers. Robust and easy to grow in any well-drained soil, this bush will thrive even in a dry garden.

Colutea x media Copper Beauty belongs to the Fabaceae family. This bush is the result of cross-breeding between Colutea arborescens, the common Bladder Senna native to southern Europe and North Africa, and C. orientalis, the Bladder Senna native to the Levant in the Near East. These two species grow spontaneously in rocky places, on limestone soils, among shrubs and dryland bushes.

Its growth is quite fast and its mature size will reach between 1.75 to 2m (6 to 7ft) in height, with a nearly equivalent spread. Its habit is bushy, upright, and well-branched during its early years, before becoming bare at the base and forming a small trunk supporting a bushy crown. Its branches bear deciduous leaves divided into 7 to 13 leaflets, oval or elliptical in shape, strongly veined, glabrous, and bluish-green in colour. Its flowering begins in April-May in warm climates, a little later in cooler areas. It continues to flower until the end of summer. The inflorescences are axillary racemes, a kind of small bouquet of papilionaceous flowers (up to 5 flowers) born at the axils of the leaves. The flowers are orange, marked with 2 yellow spots surrounded by copper-red at the base, and attract pollinating insects. This flowering is followed by the formation of translucent and swollen pods, 5 to 7cm (2 to 3in) long, changing from green-yellowish to coppery pink-red to brown at ripeness. The root system is equipped with nitrogen-fixing nodules found in the air, which are small balls the size of a pinhead often found in plants of the Fabaceae family. This is an adaptation to very poor soils, characteristic of pioneer plants of degraded soils. Another specificity of this bush is that it naturally forms roots from its branches. It is the only plant that hosts the caterpillars of the Blue Argus (Lolana iolas) butterfly in its fruits.

Colutea x media Copper Beauty is not a spectacular plant or of exotic appearance, but it has the advantage of thriving in difficult conditions and being resistant to severe frosts. It remains attractive throughout the summer. It is valuable for gardens with poor or compacted soil. It can be planted in a small hedge (less than 2m (7ft)), together with Coronilla glauca, Cotinus, Lonicera tartarica, Phillyrea angustifolia, or even Pistacia lentiscus (in mild climates). All these low-maintenance bushes are perfect for bringing a touch of whimsy to deprived areas of the garden. For example, you can plant small bushes like Cistus pulverulentus, Helianthemums, or shrubby perennials with summer flowering such as red-flowered Salvias (Royal Bumble, Rêve Rouge, Raspberry Royal) or blue-flowered Salvias (Victoria Blue) at its base.