Have you noticed a tree lately that is covered with yellow flowers? This tree is now in various stages of blooming depending on where you live. It's the Golden Rain Tree!! It's flowers are a pretty bright yellow and its leaves are fernlike. When the flowers fade, pink seed pods will cover the entire tree. The seed pods are so striking that many people think that there are two types of Raintrees......the yellow one and the pink one!
The golden raintree grows in North and Central Florida. It's a deciduous, fast growing and sun loving tree that will grow 30-40 ft. tall and as wide and is rarely attacked by pests and it will grow in about any type of soil including high pH soils. It even tolerates dryness. This tree would make a great street tree, parking lot tree or a very nice shade tree for your yard.
Even though the Golden Raintree appears to be a very pretty tree and probably sounds like you might like one or maybe two in your backyard as a shade tree. You may want to think again. As with all pretty things.......looks can be deceptive. The seed pods look like brown Chinese lanterns and are held on the tree well into the fall. And....the seeds they produce may not only germinate in your yard.....the breezes may blow them into your neighbor's yard and they might not be very happy about that.
Another little problem is.....the Golden Raintree has a very dense canopy and your lawn may have a hard time growing under it. One person described this tree as an aggravation wrapped in frustration.
And if things seem like they couldn't get worse.....the seeds also attract an insect called the Jadera or the Golden Raintree Bug.....and they don't just attract a few of these bugs......they attract armies of them. These bugs are even on Florida's Exotic Pest Plant Control list as an invader which crowds out our native plants.
Yes.....it is a very pretty tree but you may want to think twice or even more than twice.......before you get out the shovel to plant one in your yard.
