I had ordered a Honeylocust from Willis Orchards (mail-order). The tree arrived as a 6ft long stick with almost no root system at all - the tap root had been snipped through close to the base of the trunk - I planted it but was sure it was doomed. However, on March 18th 2016 it started to leaf out vigorously - but the leaves were completely yellow.
I sent a photo to the vendor who said they must have shipped me a "Golden Honeylocust" cultivar by mistake - I had wanted a regular Honeylocust, with thorns and all.
However, in July 2016, the the leaves became green and I wondered whether it may be a regular Honeylocust after all. No sign of any thorns. Unlike Honeylocust #1, every single leaf of "Honeylocust #2" is pinnate (instead of bipinnate) and the much larger leaflets don't fall off in spring. The below picture shows the large pinnate leaves of "Honeylocust #2" on the left, and the much smaller bipinnate leaves of Honeylocust #1 on the right. When I received a replacement Black Walnut, I also received another "Honeylocust" (although I had cancelled this request due to the leaves of the previous one becoming green). It was a good specimen with a good-looking root system so I planted it.
On February 10th 2017, both "Honeylocusts" #2 and #3 started to leaf out - the first to leaf out of all the trees that year. "Honeylocust #2" started to produce flowers. The new leaves were yellowish on both of them. ...and on February 18th 2017.
...and on February 24th. These flowers looked very unlike Honeylocust flowers and very much like Black Locust flowers. Looks like I was sold an incorrectly labeled plant. The newest one looked very similar - although it had not produced flowers, the fact that it leafed out at the same time and the leaves were identical in shape and color, led me to believe that this "Honeylocust" was also a cultivar of a Black Locust.
On March 4th 2017 there were many flowers on "HoneyLocust" #1.
After further email conversations with Willis Orchards, I came to the conclusion that I had been mistakenly sent two "Golden Locusts" which are actually Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia'! The fact that there are no thorns and the leaves are yellow when they first appear led to this conclusion..... On May 13th 2017, the leaves of the Golden Locusts were somewhat ravaged. I found two bag-worms and a bunch of bristly orange caterpillars.
On July 16th 2017, the Golden Locust was not looking nearly as good as it did in July 2016 - far fewer, far tattier leaves. However, there was some new growth.
On August 19th 2017, there had been a lot of vigorous new growth and the Golden Locust #1 was looking far better. Golden Locust #2 was doing OK also. In early October 2017 Golden Locust #1 suddenly dropped all its leaves - in November the scratch-test indicated that it was very likely dead, though 3 or 4 new trees had sprouted in the mulch around it - no idea what happened to it. Golden Locust #2 still had green leaves. On April 29th 2018, a new tree had sprouted from the ground where I pulled up the dead Golden Locust (actually several trees sprouted but I removed the smaller ones). This newly sprouted tree was definitely a native Black Locust - the leaves were dark green and it had thorns in the leaf axils - it seems that the nursery had grafted Golden Locust trees onto Black Locust root-stock. Well, I'd much prefer a native Black Locust to a Golden Locust cultivar. No flowers on the Golden Locust in 2019 until October when it put out a flush of new growth and a couple of flowers.
After growing vigorously all summer, the Black Locust died sometime during the 2020 / 2021 winter - I noticed it when branches started snapping off. Perhaps at some point the ground got too flooded and drowned the roots. The Golden Locust survived. |
Golden Locust (early July 2021). The Black Locust died during the winter.
Golden Locust, left; and Black Locust, middle (early July 2020)
Black Locust (end of June 2019)
Golden Locust (end of June 2019)
Black Locust (July 2018)
Black Locust (July 2017)
Black Locust (July 2016)
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