Honeylocust (Gleditsia spp.)
|Species||Size and Bloom||Zones|
|Common Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos)||Mature height is 20 to 35’ with a spread the same as the height||Zones 4 through 9|
|Blooms yellow green in June|
Thornless Honeylocust trees can be produced by budding with scionwood taken from the thornless upper branches of selected cultivars. However, seedlings from such trees are thorny. We ve divided the following suggestions into those thornless varieties with no seed pods and those with seed pods.
Thornless With Seed Pods
Inermis (Gleditsia triacanthos) is a spreading, rounded tree that can grow to be 100 feet tall with a spread of up to 70 feet. The flowers are inconspicuous but the long, pea-like pods develop in the late summer and persist into late fall sometimes still dangling from the branches into early winter. The fall color is a warm golden yellow. Bujotii is a weeping form with pendulous branches. Elegantissima is a compact form, thornless and bushy. Maxwell has an irregular form and is very cold hardy;
Thornless With No Seed Pods
Cottage Green is semi upright and seedless. Halka is a very strong, vigorous tree. It occasionally produces fruit. Imperial has a symmetrical and compact, broad crown. Majestic is upright. Moraine is one of the earliest cultivars considered the standard. The deep green foliage turns to yellow in the fall. This tree is a favorite of Municipal Arborists. Shademaster is an old reliable. It has good form and virtually no pods. It has ascending branches. It can begin developing pods after 15 years old. Skyline is an erect, pyramidal tree that has good fall color. Sunburst is a smaller and more compact tree than the species. This tree is fast growing and will reach 30 to 40 feet with a spread of 25 to 30 feet. The leaves emerge in the spring bright yellow and then mature into a light green by summer.