Gleditsia Species, Thornless Honeylocust

Fast growing shade tree, very cold hardy!

The seedpods could be messy in late fall throughout the whole winter and its br...Read Moreanches are easy to break and come down during and after storm. Don't plant this too close to your house.

There are both seedless and thorn-less varieties of this tree. I highly recommend investigating the use of those since the 3 complaints ...Read Moreabout this tree are 1) thorns, 2) seed pods, and 3) invasive suckers.

This tree really needs to be kept somewhat dry in order to stop the suckers. In Texas, where it is from, it grows quite well in hot dry summers.

This is the thornless variety from which the many widely planted cultivars have been selected. Most people find the many large seedpods t...Read Moreo be a maintenance headache when they fall. Some of the cultivars have far fewer pods, and are preferable to this variety.

Most of the so-called "seedless" cultivars will produce some seedpods under some conditions, but generally not enough to cause problems. For that matter, many of the "thornless" cultivars will produce an occasional thorn. Take care in handling these plants.

Gracefully vase-shaped, generally 30-70', though as much as 100' is possible. This is one of the few shade trees (together with oaks and hickories) in whose shade a lawn can thrive. Its leaves are late to appear in the spring and early to color and drop in the fall.

This used to be a great city tree. It has many virtues: adaptable, fast-growing, readily transplanted, leaves that never need raking, good yellow fall color, tolerant of salt, drought, pollution, and high pH soils...It used to be virtually problem-free.

After the disappearance of the American elm as a street tree in the 1950's and 60's, due to Dutch Elm disease, there was a lot of talk about never again letting our cities become overplanted with a single tree species. Diversity in planting can prevent the catastophic loss of our city trees due to the advent of a single pest or disease.

And then everyone promptly planted honey locusts, because they rarely suffered from pests or diseases. By the 80's, a host of pest and disease problems had accumulated due to this tree's overplanting, and it's no longer the trouble-free city tree it once was.

This may still have value as an urban lawn tree, but I wouldn't recommend it as a street tree, due to its many problems and its overplanting.

The cultivars all seem to have been selected from seed of northern provenance, and (according to Dirr) none of them perform well in the heat, humidity, and heavy soils of the southeastern USA.

I have this tree growing in the southwest corner of my yard & I love it. It provides nice shade in the summer. The bees are crazy for the...Read More flowers. I like the shape too.