Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Locust Tree


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The old locust tree in the back yard is humming with bees. You can hear it best in the morning when the entire tree literally hums.

The sidewalk is covered with blossoms. The grass resembles a light snow event. Drunken bees walk on the driveway.

When the blossoms are gone the tree will produce seed pods. They will eventually drop and stain the sidewalks or rot in the garden. The leaves are small and easy to rake up in the fall.

We got the tree as a sapling from a relative so I really don’t know its name – most likely a honey locust. I have never seen any thorns. Modern varieties like Shademaster are both thornless and podless. They make a great shade tree growing to 70 feet high and 50 feet wide.

It’s a pretty, umbrella shaped tree and the blossoms smell sweet so we tolerate the mess.

(More information about honey locust at Tree Help dot com.)
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2 comments:

Robin said...

No need to let the pods rot. While I have never tried it, I have been told the pods are edible and when fermented make a good beer.

Marie said...

Oh, good beer huh? That's worth thinking about. LOL