Black Locust Tree – 3 Gallon Pot

Originally native to the southern Appalachians and the Ozarks, the Black Locust can now be found in all lower 48 states. It is a large growing tree boasting both attractive flowers and attractive compound foliage. In full bloom you’d think it was a giant Wisteria tree! In late spring to early summer, abundant wisteria-like racemes of very fragrant, creamy white, pea-like flowers dangle from every stem on the tree. The flowers have a heavenly sweet-pea aroma mingled with the scent of intensified orange blossom, attracting hummingbirds, butterflies and many other beneficial pollinators. We’ve heard the flowers are edible and very tasty, but we always suggest doing your own research before eating them. It has pinnate dark blue-green leaves up to 14 inches long, with each leaf having up to 23 lance to oval shaped leaflets. Its deeply furrowed bark and curvy branches provide winter interest. A fast grower that might reach 50 to 70 feet in height and 30 to 50 feet wide, it can be kept to a single trunk though is a suckering tree excellent for use on difficult sites for naturalization, such as a soil stabilizer on embankments or along sunny woodland borders where soil is poor and not mulch else will grow. Resistant to drought, dry soil, pollution, alt, and almost any type of soil, this is a tree anyone can grow.

Black Locust is a larval host plant for several butterflies. Clouded Sulphur larvae appear from May to October in the north and from March to November in the south. Zarucco Duskywing has three broods in the deep south from March to October. Silver-Spotted Skipper appears from May to September with three-four broods in the deep south, two broods in the east, and one brood in the north and west. The buds and catkins are eaten by birds. It provides an excellent leaf cover for birds in wetland sites. It provides nesting cavities for woodpeckers and northern flickers. Bees and hummingbirds are attracted to its flowers and rabbits depend on the sprouts and seeds during the winter.

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