Sunburst Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis ‘Suncole’)

An attractive and easy care brilliant shock of color! If you want an attractive hardwood shade tree that grows quickly and has a lot of style, take a good look at the native Sunburst® Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis ‘Suncole’). This is a great tree that handles tough conditions without any trouble.

This is a wonderful selection for the home landscape. It’s pollution, drought, and salt tolerant and will give you very little trouble. You won’t even have a big job with fall cleanup!

Sunburst® is considered by many to be the perfect lawn tree. It grows into a vase shape and with a beautiful rounded canopy. The leaves are one of its best features! Our horticulture team calls them “pinnately compound”, which means each leaf has tiny, symmetrical leaflets that are made up of even smaller rows of leaflets!

Sunburst® Honeylocust is well-known for its bright sunny yellow leaves that emerge in the spring. As the new growth expands, the foliage at the tips remains very yellow until it matures. The fine-textured, compound leaves cast a refreshing dappled shade. The leaves are nicely green through the summer and turn a lovely golden-yellow in the fall.

And little leaves? So much easier to pick up in the fall. Often, a majority of them will just be whisked up by the wind and carried away. The tiny leaves that are left can actually be left to break down into rich, organic compost over the winter. Or zip, zip, zip – a quick pass of the mower and you’re DONE with fall cleanup! No raking is required.

This tree is a tough cookie throughout USDA growing zones 4 to 9, that excels in areas where others don’t. We’re talking compacted soil, clay soil, urban pollution, high heat, and limited maintenance or care! Sunburst® Honeylocust is also a very hard-wooded tree that tolerates ice storms and wind with few problems.

For decades, growers have worked to improve many of our hardy, native American tree species, reducing undesirable traits and boosting all those delightful plant characteristics we love so much. One of the most popular of these hybrid selections is the Sunburst® Honeylocust!

Planting and Application:

Honeylocust trees, or just Locust trees, are native to America, so they are usually very hardy. Sunburst® is a seedless/podless male cultivar that has been bred to be extra hardy! It isn’t fazed by street or air pollution, salt, soot, or a whole range of soils, including challenging soil conditions.

Your lawn grasses can grow beneath it. Pretty perennials or small shrubs for partial shade can easily establish and grow for you directly underneath it. Shade your backyard entertainment areas or reduce cooling costs in the summer by situating this tree 10-15 feet from your home to block the sun in the summer but let light through in the winter once the deciduous leaves drop.

Recommended for wherever a large shade tree is required, Sunburst® works in large parking lot islands or buffer zone plantings. Municipalities have used Honeylocust trees as street trees because of their great adaptability to soils and tolerance where road salt is used.

They can be planted in close groups to create a shaded grove in a large landscape. This tree grows as an informal pyramidal outline when young, but opens up into an upright, spreading form at maturity.

You can also use Sunburst® Honeylocust as a bright accent specimen tree. The early yellow leaf color and the way the wind plays through the lacy leaves will draw your eye.

• Fast Growing Hardwood Tree
• Sunny Yellow New Leaves in Spring
• Thornless & Podless Cloned Male Variety
• Small Sprays of White Flowers Pollinators Seek Out
• Refreshing Dappled Light Shade, Perfect Lawn & Shade Tree

Tips for Care:

Simply plant Sunburst® in full sun and give it the space to grow and watch this fast-growing tree thrive. Honeylocust will tolerate almost any type of soil, but it must be well-drained. Nature Hills Root Booster is recommended to help your new plants make new roots easier. Give a moderate amount of water on a regular basis to establish the plant. Once it’s established in your soil, it will be quite drought-tolerant.

Top the soil with a 3-4 inch thick layer of arborist mulch – especially when planted in the lawn. Create a buffer zone extending 3-4 feet from the trunk to protect the bark from mower and weed-wacker damage.

Pruning to shape branch structure is recommended when the tree is young. It may seem odd, but Honeylocust are best pruned in June while it’s actively growing. This will prevent any disease problems.

• Full Sun Deciduous Tree
• Highly Adaptable to Any Well-Drained Soil Type
• Moderate to Low Moisture Once Established
• Long-Lived Tree & Super-Low Maintenance
• Pollution, Drought & Salt Tolerant & Deer Seldom Bother It