Sophora japonica - Japanese Pagoda Tree

also known as Chinese Scholar Tree




Seed pods (legumes) resemble a string of pearls.

Robinia x ambigua 'Purple Robe' - Purple Robe Locust

Patented hybrid between Robinia ambigua 'Decaisneana' and R. hispida 'Monument.'


Pinnately compound leaves with ovate to oblong leaflets. Mostly thornless, but there are rounded thorn nubs at leaf nodes.
Purple flowers are mostly scentless, but a deep whiff with your nose buried in the blossoms can yield a faint rose scent.
Reddish brown to gray bark develops fissures and cracks. Wood is brittle and limbs tend to break on older trees.

Melia azedarach - China-Berry

Gleditsia triacanthos inermis - Thornless Honey Locust

Cultivar 'Sunburst' has yellow foliage.
Leaves pinnately or bipinnately compound.

Crataegus phaenopyrum - Washington Thorn

Watch out for long thorns.

Celtis sinensis - Chinese Hackberry

Medium textured tree with leathery leaves.
Distal 1/3 of leaf margins are crenate to serrate with entire margins about the leaf base. Leaf base is oblique, as is typical of the Elm family (Ulmaceae).
Smooth grayish brown bark takes on blackish margins and warty growths with age, often with shallow furrows and ridges.

Catalpa speciosa - Western Catalpa

Very coarse textured tree, often with a broad, round headed canopy at maturity. This species is taller than C. bignonioides.
Huge (6-12") cordate leaves.
Creamy white campanulate (bell-shaped) flowers with yellow and brown/purple markings. Inflorescences are smaller than in C. bignonioides.
Showy seed capsules resemble vanilla beans. Capsules are larger than in C. bignonioides.
Bark is thin grayish brown, becoing fissured with flat scaly ridges.