Hippocrepis emerus

Hippocrepis emerus (Coronilla emerus) is a deciduous botanical coronilla that is perfectly hardy and widespread from southern Europe to Croatia. In the garden, this remarkably resistant shrub is appreciated for its light foliage, its endless yellow, nectar-rich and fragrant flowering, and its ease of cultivation in all exposures. Perfectly adapted to poor or root-infested soils, tolerant of summer drought and resistant to pruning, this coronilla is essential in a shrub border and particularly interesting for ornamental purposes in the understory or shaded areas of the garden in hot and dry climates. This plant is perfectly suited for a wild garden, a flower garden, or a dry garden.

The Coronilla emerus is a shrub of the fabaceae family, a cousin of perennial peas, perfectly adapted to poor, rather dry, and chalky soils. It is present in the clear understory of the Mediterranean basin, occurring naturally in in woods and on shaded slopes. It is a shrub with a dense, round, and bushy habit, reaching about 1.75m (6 ft) in height and 1.50m (5 ft) in spread, sometimes less in dry and poor soil, more in fertile and moist soil. Its growth is quite rapid, but its lifespan is relatively short, around 10 to 12 years. The plant ensures its survival through self-sowing. Flowering begins in April-May and continues as long as heat and drought do not set in. The flowers are quite large, 1.5 to 2 cm (0.6 to 0.8 in) long, bright yellow, streaked with reddish-brown like those of the bladder senna (Colutea arborescens), and enclosed in a reddish calyx. They are highly nectar-rich, arranged in pairs to fours in leaf axils. Their sweet and floral fragrance perfumes a whole area of the garden. The flowering gives way to pendant fruits called siliques, 10 cm (3.9 in) long. The deciduous foliage is composed of leaves divided into 7 to 9 small ovate leaflets, bright green with a matte finish.

This attractive shrub for poor soils can be used in a yellow, blue, and white border, for example, accompanied by Gaura, blue rosemary, creeping ceanothus, caryopteris, perovskia, convolvulus cneorum, Scilla peruviana, or grape hyacinths, or on the edge of the understory or in clear understory with Phlomis samia, periwinkles, Acanthus, and Geranium macrorrhizum. It tolerates drought and is not afraid of competition from the roots of large trees such as pines or oaks; it excels where few plants are willing to grow. To accompany your coronilla in a light shade, choose undemanding shrubs like Sarcococca, bay laurel, symphoricarpos, or perennials like Algerian iris and lamiums.