Robinia nana

The dwarf pink locust is a charming, little-known native shrub, a low, stoloniferous plant of one to two feet with compound, deciduous leaves and hanging clusters of pretty pink pea flowers in spring. Scattered through the sandy pinelands of the southeastern United States, the plant spreads quietly by underground runners into a low colony, since seed is virtually never set and the shrub increases almost entirely by vegetative means.

The taxonomy of the pink-flowered locusts of the eastern United States is famously tangled. This plant is sometimes treated as a form of Robinia hispida, the bristly locust, but lacks the dense bristles that cover the stems of true hispida, and the various dwarf, pink-flowered forms have long defied tidy naming. Whatever the label, the shrub is a legume, fixing nitrogen at the roots and improving the lean, sandy ground the plant favors.

In spring the short clusters of rose-pink flowers, like small wisteria or sweet-pea blooms, draw bees and other pollinators, a bright, unexpected show on so low a shrub. As with all the locusts, the leaves and seeds carry toxic compounds and are not for eating, so site the plant where children and grazing animals will not be tempted, and enjoy the flowers for color and for the bees.

Give the dwarf pink locust a sunny to lightly shaded spot with sandy, sharply drained soil, where the low, running colony can knit together on a bank, at a border edge, or in a native or pollinator planting. Drought tolerant once established and undemanding, the plant asks only sun and drainage, and spreads slowly enough to stay well-mannered. An attractive, surprisingly little-known native worth a place in any collector's or native garden.