Description
Golden Rain Tree (Koelreuteria paniculata): A Midsummer Yellow-Flowering Ornamental
Golden Raintree is one of the few trees that puts on a major flower show in midsummer. In June or July, foot-long panicles of small bright yellow flowers cover the rounded canopy, then drop like golden rain beneath the tree. After bloom, papery three-sided capsules form that look like tiny Chinese lanterns and often persist into winter.
It reaches about 30 feet tall and 30 feet wide, matching your listing size of 30×30. The form is upright and rounded in youth, then opens into a broader, spreading crown. Leaves are pinnately compound with 7–15 leaflets, emerging bronzed or copper in spring and maturing to bright green. Fall color is usually a clear yellow, sometimes with a little orange, though it is not as reliable as the flowers.
This is a tough, urban-tolerant tree. It handles heat, drought, alkaline soil, and pollution once established. It is not native to North America—it comes from China, Korea, and Japan—but it performs well across the Southeast and much of the eastern U.S. Use it as a specimen, small shade tree, or street tree where a larger canopy would be too much.



