Another great thing about Black Locust

[jeromehdmc]

I just stepped out in the backyard to look at the sunset and I was hit full force with the smell of
black locust in bloom. I can't really describe the smell but is almost like honeysuckle.
I'll try and get some pictures of the flowers tomorrow.
Is anyone else seeing and smelling them?

 

[TreePointer]

They haven't bloomed here yet, but yeah, they have a nice fragrance.

We just finished enjoying the flowers and fragrance of the two types of crabapple we have here.

 

[bogydave]

Feeds the honey bees too

 

[Hickorynut]

Here in Kentucky, they have been blooming for awhile and are now losing the blooms. And they have the fragrance you describe. I have a three acre place full of locusts. Kind of a love/hate relationship, great for firewood but terrible with the limb breakage, yard mess kind of thing.

 

[midwestcoast]

Still a way off here, but I do love the blooms. Most everything else is done blooming & then the Locust show starts up! Love it!

 

[Ehouse]

I've got a small colony of BL (about 1/4 acre) that came up in a field that I never got to brush hog. I used to curse them till I resumed wood heat. Each year now, 4 or 5 of them obligingly fall over with the spring winds (8" to12" dia.). I don't even have to fell 'em! talk about perfect fire wood!

 

[ScotO]

Yeah, locust blooms smell fantastic. They usually don't pop around here until mid-June. I also love the catalpa blooms as well, also in mid to late June. One of the only things I like about the catalpa tree (that and the shade they provide). Not a very good firewood tree, and dirty as.heck!

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I read an article with recipes for the blooms. Supposed to be great!
edit: seems that you can just eat them raw, or see here for recipes
http://the3foragers.blogspot.com/2011/06/black-locust-flowers.html

 

[Jags]

I read an article with recipes for the blooms. Supposed to be great!
edit: seems that you can just eat them raw, or see here for recipes
http://the3foragers.blogspot.com/2011/06/black-locust-flowers.html

Yeah - I think I first heard that from BogyDave. Kinda rocked my world.

 

[TreePointer]

Yeah, locust blooms smell fantastic. They usually don't pop around here until mid-June. I also love the catalpa blooms as well, also in mid to late June. One of the only things I like about the catalpa tree (that and the shade they provide). Not a very good firewood tree, and dirty as.heck!

Another catalpa bloom fan here. This one is on my mother's farm. Its in full bloom around June 12 every year. (22 foot circumference at DBH)

(broken image removed)

 

[Paulywalnut]

BL.. Great burning wood and beautiful fragrance. Waiting for the blooms now.

 

[jeromehdmc]

I've tried the blooms before, they taste almost like raw beans or peas. You can really tell they are legumes.
The bees are really busy these past few days, I've even seem some Baltimore Orioles trying out the blooms.
That Catalpa tree is very nice looking.

 

[Flatbedford]

The Black Locust in my yard has been C/S/S for from 5 months to three years. Not much flowers.

 

[jeromehdmc]

Here's a couple pictures of the blooms.

 

[paul bunion]

Never realized that Black Locust had favorable smelling flowers. I had always considered it a weed tree that smelled kind of bad when cut and whose only redeeming factor was that it burns very well.

As a result of this thread I noticed it in bloom along the highway today. I'll have to go find some that I can actually smell up close.

Thanks.

 

[TreePointer]

As a yard tree, it can be very nice. In our crop fields, it is a pest.

The best location for black locust is a grove on someone else's property.

 

[ailanthus]

The smell is amazing - supposed to make some great, almost clear honey, too. So I've heard, but I haven't had the privilege...