Well-known as a poor choice - brittle wood, floppy when young and much maintenance needed to train, etc.

Dan

What happened to the katsura?!

What dan said. There is a place for purple robe locust but you can do better!

Robinia pseudoacacia is black locust, which the Purple Robe hybrid is not.

The katsura is far too expensive $200 for a 5" 3mm tree slower growing than we want.

Back to the Ash or the locust.

thanks for your input.

5" 3mm???
Do you mean it's 5 feet tall and 3cm in diameter?
If so that sounds awfully expensive. Have you looked around for a better price?

the purple robe locusts are probably the fastest growing tree or one of the fastest growing trees you can get but it's not something you would really use for a front lawn specimen. They have the reputation for growing places that nothing else will because of its tolerance to conditions and soils and the fact that it fixes nitrogen.

They're a bit of a novelty if you love to watch plants take off. Of course if you want something really nice, then it's back to the drawing board.

You asked for replies only from people that has one of these so I didn't reply originally. I have planted a few black locusts before in an area that needed some erosion control on a cleared hillside. Other than that, I don't think there's many folks on this board that have them because they really aren't that great of a tree for the average yard. They are a pest magnet.

I don't know if you're having a hard time finding trees there but it seems like you're starting at the bottom.

Katsura tree is frequently grown and planted, you can order small sizes through the mail if none are on hand locally at this time. On a good site it is a large-growing tree, over 60' tall in time. An E Asian monsoon climate woodland tree, it likes abundant summer moisture.

If you are within the current or future range of Emerald Ash Borer, an ash tree might be attacked and spoiled at some point.

The web site of your state Cooperative Extension Service might contain a section on recommended trees. At this time of the year you might see something you like in labeled plantings at a local arboretum, botanic garden, USDA experiment station or other facility.

You're in Canada, so no USDA web site for your "state".

Ash as in Sorbus, not Fraxinus.

Dan

Borers are still a consideration, just not the same one(s).