We have a large number of New Mexico locusts on our farm in Littleton, Colorado. These small trees are adorned with fragrant, purple flowers in late spring but, unfortunately, are also festooned with numerous thorns along their branches. Convinced that one of the locusts would look great on our front lawn in Columbia, Missouri, we transplanted a young tree two years ago.
I knew that locusts, like most legumes, spread by suckering but, in the semiarid climate of the Front Range, this has not been a problem, just a matter of pruning out unwanted trees every year or so. However, in the wet, humid climate of Missouri, the locust has already outgrown its Colorado relatives. The numerous flowers have been rewarding but the tree was crowding a nearby maple and its sucker plants dotted much of the yard. Convinced that we had made a mistake, my wife and I removed the parent tree this morning and I hauled its remnants to the city mulch pile; time will tell if the sucker trees keep appearing.
While ornamental, non-native plants adorn suburban yards throughout the country, there is no guarantee that they will thrive away from their natural homeland. On the other hand, as occurred with our locust, there is the risk that they will quickly dominate the scene, crowding out native vegetation. Just another reminder that we should not mess with Mother Nature.
