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Issue No. 100 - February 22, 2004
by Sue Sweeney
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This morning, there’s a breath-takingly beautiful winter tree photo on
my cousin Nancy’s site, and
she mentioned our mutual love of winter tree viewing, so that inspired
me to write about another fine winter-viewing tree, our native locust. |
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picture: Long Island Sound (Dolphin Cove, Stamford, CT) |
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North America has two great locust trees that range today from
southern Canada to northern Florida. The Black (or Yellow)
Locust (robinia pseudo-acacia) was pushed into Appalachia
by the Ice Age but was spread back over the Eastern seaboard by
the European settlers. The Honey Locust (gleditsia triacnthos)
is a mid-westerner.
Both locusts, members of the pea family, leaf out late
in spring and drop their leaves relatively early in the
fall, which leaves their “bones” exposed for viewing a
good part of the year. The spring leaf color is a lovely
yellow green and the fall, orange to butter yellow. In
summer, the Black Locust is blue green and the Honey, a
bright green-green. The Black Locust has grape-shaped
leaves; the Honey Locust leaves are more elongated. |
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picture: Honey Locust, Summer Street Stamford, Summer 2003 |
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Picture: Morgan Street, Stamford CT, fall 2003 |
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Both trees are urban, yard, and beach favorites. They are fast
growers that need full sun but are tolerant of all soil types,
salt and pollution. They’re subject to a range of icky pests
(mites, virus, and fungus) but generally fight them off without
help. The Black is a tall, thin, gothic-looking tree with
zig-zag twigs, no visible buds, and short thorns. It reproduces
from roots suckers so it’s often found in groves. Older trees
will have deeply furrowed bark. |
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picture: Black Locust, Bedford Street, Stamford, Ct |
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The Honey Locust has a rounder, spreading shape, big thorns, and
the bark comes in large rough scales. |
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picture: Honey Locust, Morgan Street Ally, Stamford CT |
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The Black Locust has showy, white sweet-pea like flowers in late
spring that, as any bee will tell you, make great honey. The
Honey Locust’s flowers are white-green and not particularly
noticeable. The both trees’ flowers turn into long, woody pods
that the trees hold through winter. The Black’s look like
polished mahogany; the Honey’s are lighter and tend to be very
curly.
My mother has a Black that every other year produces an
astonishing quantity of pods, despite the very young pods being
a favorite of numerous birds. The squirrels and crows will eat
the mature pods but only as a last resort. This, unfortunately,
leaves bag after bag of pods to be raked up. The Honey Locusts,
believe it or not, are named for a sweet, edible jelly found
inside the pods, coating the seeds.
Locusts are great yard trees (if you get a pod-less,
thorn-less cultivar). They grow fast so the nurseries can sell
them fairly cheaply and they’ll give you lots of shade pronto.
And it’s light shade so it’s OK for the shade garden and the
grass. I have noticed that, over the years, the big, shallow
locust roots heave up sidewalks and the like; indeed, the ones
in front of my condo are doing a number on the driveway. So
consider planting them away from paved areas where this could be
a problem. Also, locust spread so fast that we have a local
invasiveness warning out on them, so make sure to get the
pod-less kind. |
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picture: Locust grove, Cove Island, Stamford, CT October 2003 |
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