anyone growing robinia 'lacy lady'?

I have only recently planted my "Lacy Lady" Robinia in its permanent home. It had been existing in a pot for the last two years and is now, at last, in the ground and it is looking so beautiful. It has been grafted onto a standard trunk and is about five and a half feet tall, its branches are fully filled with furled light green leaves which cover the branches and the branches are slighly pendulous.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a fully grown specimen of this tree and I was thrilled to see it in it in all its mature glory. It will be such a pleasure for me to watch it grow over the coming years.

I live in New Zealand, a southPacific country with a temperate climate and am wondering if this tree has any devotees in the U.S.A. As I have just become a registered member of "Dave's Garden' I have not yet learned how to post a phot of it onto the forun - I am a little 'techno thick'!! being of mature years and maybe I will learn how to do this some time in the future.

Is this cultivar grown in the U.S.A. I would be really interested to hear from other growers of this tree and whether they rate it as highly as I do.

Hi Ferrymead, Welcome to Daves Garden!

I had a "Lacy Lady" Robinia. Mine never really did that well and died back to below the graft so I threw it out. I've seen a few around that look ok. I like the branching.

Ferry, if the photos are on your computer, posting is easy. Use the browse button next to the image box below the area where you type. Find your picture and double click it into the image box. It will take a little longer to upload a post with an image. Let's see it! I had 3 of the 'Purple Robe' cultivar, but I killed one and the deer are trying to kill another. SB

Edited to delete duplicate post.

This message was edited Jan 31, 2006 8:07 AM

Ohhhhh! New Zealand. That's a country I haven't been to that I have longed to visit ever since a few people I worked with went and shared photos of your countryside accompanied by stories of their travels. They were bikers and were into camping and roughing it and had just returned from their 2 week vacation. The photos they shared with me blew me away and were better than any travel site I'd ever seen showcasing New Zealand. My husband wants to go there too. I will have to keep track of you so that you can share with me the best places to visit as I know that is a Country we will be traveling to after we get out of the Disneyworld and Wisconsin Dells mode with having young kids. For what its worth, I saw the photos they took of each other with backpacks attached to them while they were on their bicycles. Not only did they look heavy but they probably were heavy and I can't imagine how they packed clothing in those things let alone sleeping bags and food. I would not be interested in renting bicycles and "roughing" it for two weeks. I like a bed and both my husband and I like hot showers as well as fresh clothing daily. Hotels and a rental car would be the way we'd go. Toss in restaurant reservation too as I'm not into cooking my own meals when I'm vacationing.

I'm not familiar with the 'Lacy Lady' cultivar of Robinia and have no idea if it is being grown over here but I am familiar with Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia). It is a very attractive tree. I particularly like the wisteria like flowers in spring. It was one of the first trees I photographed because of its blooms. The blooms smell nice too.

Welcome to DG, so glad you are here.

This message was edited Jan 30, 2006 11:16 PM

So great to have your replies, growin, stressbaby, and equilibrium. I will certainly take up the information about how to upload the photos and let you see how my Lacy Lady is looking. We are in high summer here and having temperatures of about 30 degres celsius - too hot for me!!
We have just moved into a new house with a bare section and are busy getting the garden sorted. It is so wonderful to start off with a clean slate so I have been able to plant all the things I have hungered over for many years. I have the Camellias, the Magnolias, the roses (some of them), and am looking forward to putting in Fuchsias and other shrubs that delight me. What a wonderful site Daves Gardesn is. We have a New Zealand forum for the Garden Web but being a small country there is not too much activity on it.
Will try to get that phot onto the site tonight.
Thanks so much for your replies.
Tess

Tess, anxiously awaiting your photos. 'Lacy Lady' intrigues me since we have a gorgeous specimen of Robinia 'Purple Robe' in our gardens. Looked it up in Dirr's manual where he states it is sold in the US as ‘Twisty Baby’ ™ and does not flower - however, this site shows white flowers? http://www.boldspring.com/ItemInfo.php?item_id=323. Another photo here: http://www.whitmanfarms.com/tree_pages/robll.htm.

Hi rcn,
Still trying to get that photo in here but cannot make any sense of where the browse button takes me to - seems to be all install windows stuff. Will read the f a q site and see if it sheds any light.
Checked the bold spring site and that is the variety I have but I do not think it shows the foliage well, however, the flower is correct. I had one bloom on my tree in the spring. This was a surprise to me as I did not kow it flowered!! Bit aghast at how tall the site said it will grow up to. Our street residents all had to sign a covenent that we would never have any tree that grew over 15 feet tall. Oh, well, by the time it gets over the allowed height I may be pushing up the daisies so it wont be a worry to me,
Ferrymead.

Hey Kiwi, where are you living, the Shire?

Ferrymead, when you click on the Browse button, you're given the option to "Choose File" ("Look In"). Click on the down arrow to search your computer's hard drive for the location of where you have the picture located, i.e. My Pictures, My Documents, etc. Once you locate the picture, click on it so the file will show in the File Name box , click Open, then click Preview and the picture will load. It may take a minute or more to load if you have a dial up connection versus DSL. After it has loaded, you'll be prompted to Preview or Send - click on Send and you're done! If you still have problems, just let us know - we'll all help :)

Hi,ferrymead!Welcome to Dave's Garden!I'm also a "techno thick",mature,two-fingered typist and camera-shy wannabe gardener from Kansas!By the time I finish this post it will be April....lol!There is such a wealth of information coming from the good folks in here and I really look forward to their postings! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do and that things "grow" your way........Dave......

Well, here it is at last. Due to the help I received from other contributors and my husband. What a mission it has been but I have learned such a lot. Hope it all sticks into my memory bank!!

Yay! Bravo! Now that you've done it once, it will go so much faster the next time! Good job!

Lauren

Good job, Ferrymead. I posted for years on the "other site" and NEVER posted a picture. I was pretty proud when I learned how to do so here, and haven't looked back since.

In the interest of full disclosure on the ways of Robinia pseudoacacia...Robinia has a bad habit of sending up new sucker shoots at points where its roots have been disturbed. From your photo it looks like your Lacy Lady ('Lace Lady', Twisty Baby™) is embedded in a annual/perennial border. So, expect that as the 'Lacy Lady' stretches her roots out through what looks like wonderful soil, that each time you dig amongst your annuals and perennials that you will nick or cut some Robinia roots, and you'll get the suckering response. And since the clones of Robinia like 'Lacy Lady' are grafted or budded onto seedling understock, the suckers will resemble the plain thorny species, with excess vigor!

If this is an outcome you are not interested in promoting, you might consider how you garden around this plant, or where you ultimately want its permanent site.