Mimosa in bloom

You should see the hummers and butterflies in this beautiful mimosa. We haven't been able to capture them on film yet...but we will !!!!

ahhhh, the invasive tree I continue to dream of. I'm going to try one up here yet!!

Hi 8ftbed! Yep, you are right,invasive for sure!! I've had this one for twenty years now and it has become a six trunk spreader,forty ft high and just as wide.It will have hundreds of those blossoms and is a sight to see with the hummers and butterflies and various birds feeding off of the tree.I'll be glad to send ya a gunny-sack full of seed pods! lol!!......Dave

Hi Dave
I never knew or heard of Mimosa being invasive till I started hanging out on DG. I remember that tree from where I grew up in NM

Boy that's a big girl!! I haven't seen one that size either and.... while I don't need a gunny sack full, I'd certainly take you up on some seeds. I've been wanting to try them up since there are conflicting reports as to whether it's hardy up here. Plus I like to start trees from seed in the winter.
blaine

Hi again 8ftbed! Here is a shot of the seed pods to give you an idea of how they are at the moment. Normally, the pods dry to a tan color and fall to the ground.This is when ya wanna be on em' cause they will grow quickly. Theres another shot of seedlings growing between rocks here. I keep them down to about four to six inches high.Kinda of a neat cheap way to have a cover between the rocks.......Dave

My reference is Jose!! lol!!!

Dave, Can I have some seeds Please ('-'?)

Hi scooterbug!Yabetcha!Do you want them green as they are now,or,dried?Just let me know......Dave.....

Dry please , so I can get viable mature seeds.

I tried once before and none of the seeds germinated ;-(

I'm in the addy exchange.



would you like some
Asclepias Incarnata _Pink Soulmate and a white Milkweed (I lost the tag ) for your butterfly habitat?
also have tall Pink Cleome seeds almost ready.

My BF population has grown ten-fold since I planted these.


Asclepias Incarnata

Albizia is certainly invasive, but mostly south of Zone 5. We've had one here in central Illinois for about 30 years and have found one volunteer seedling. Still, I would not recommend planting it in areas where it is not already tested, especially in Zones 6-10.

If you want to try one in the Chicago area, look for 'Rosea' or 'EHWilson' (same thing, I believe). It's a little hardier, and might not break your heart by dying back to the ground every bad winter.

Guy S.

Hi scooterbug!! Sounds great! The seeds will take a while to dry,but when they drop I'll send to ya! I'm in the addy exchange,now,so,I wont forgit ya!.....Dave.....

Tnx Dave,

If I have anything you would like just ask.

Is mimosa invasive in Utah? I really do want one but not if.........I all ready have rain tree volunteer up the ying yang do not need another self sower.....

Hi MQN. Up on the coast this Mimosa rarely sets seed or viable seed and is a very desireable tree. I think your winter might keep it in check. They need that hot summer heat to ripen the seed and, from my observations, a companion tree for seed-set. If you do want to try it look for the chocolate leaf form as it would be a unique addition to your garden and probably less "invasive". I do have extra seed but I'm not sure if it's Rosea/E. H. Wilson or regular.

Tippin' my hat to MQN and growin!! Nice to meet you good folks!!In regards to the invasiveness in different zones......Hain't got a clue....LOL!!!But I can tell you that,thru the years,here in my zone,with a concerted effort,(weeding,trimming,shaping)mimsosas are doable as a tree form...(single trunk,or multiples) as long as ya work at it......Dave.....

Nothing like having a mimosa!! That is my all time favorite tree and i have started seedlings here at my new home. I remember them being somewhat 'invasive', but mowing the lawn around the tree took care of those babies..

Hi terri_in_PA!!!Hain't nothin like em'! lol!! nice to meet ya!! Davers......

Hey Dave! nice to meet you too! :)

I agree with terri - Mimosa seed new trees, but not worse than lots of things - in fact nothing at all compared with tulip poplars and holly around here! But, although some grow to beautiful specifimens, they also fail - can't remember the cause, some sort of disease - and ours, beautifully arching over the entrancae to our shade gardens, pooped out this year, with 3 trunks to about 18'.

Peter

Peter, perhaps you know all this, but others may not -- there is a very serious difference between a plant or animal being invasive (usurping habitat in a new region or continent) and merely reproducing in the habitat to which it has adapted and in which it has stabilized over millennia to coexist with other native life forms. This is the basis of synecology.

Albizia is invasive, at least under some conditions and in some regions, while Liriodendron and Ilex are natives that succeed in maintaining their position under conditions suitable for their recruitment. Perhaps our Liriodendron might become invasive in China, if it ever escapes and establishes there, displacing the native Chinese Liriodendron species or other Chinese plants. But, by definition, it is not invasive in North Carolina -- it is native there.

This is why plants such as Albizia, Kudzu, Ailanthus, Paulownia, many Lonicera and Rhamnus, and on and on are considered such severe problems while native plants are not. They invade and convert our habitats, displacing native species and the wildlife they support.

I keep an Albizia here only because it does not recruit successfully in our local climate. Keeping volunteer seedlings out of your yard is not the problem -- the problem is keeping them from jumping the fence into unmanaged landscapes. The other side of the coin, as you mentioned, is that if you grow such trees in areas where they are not hardy enough to recruit, you also risk failure in severe winters or under other stress conditions. The exception in this case might be out in Growin's area, where they apparently (?) lack the heat for seed maturation but have no hardiness problem.

I expect Equilibrium to chime in here soon!

Guy S.

Yes MQN, Mimosa can be invasive in your neck of the woods. Much of your state is a usda hardiness zone of 6 or 7. If you've already experienced issues with Rain Tree, I suspect the Silk Tree to be capable of being extremely successful by you also. I can tell you that I am in Northern Illinois in an area where this plant is allegedly not supposed to be able to thrive yet there are quite a few doing perfectly fine as "specimen" trees in quite a few front yards. And, the seed from those trees does end up where it doesn't belong. How the heck does one "deadhead" a tree to stop it from escaping? How does one control the roots? Coes one go out and mow all the areas where the seedlings end up? Harumph, and studies indicated Mimosa wouldn’t be an issue in my zone 5??? Bet when those studies were done they forgot to acknowledge the existence of microclimates in colder zones because I’ve seen this tree growing up in Wisconsin.

And 8ft, you’re real close to the Lake and it’s warming effects so the Mimosa should do just fine by you too. Sadly, you are a hop skip and a jump away from the Illinois State Beach Park where I volunteer controlling, managing, and eradicating invasive non-native species along with hundreds of other volunteers.

I have another concern. Mimosa cultivars being released that are cold hardy. Great. Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking. Why does the word Calleryana come to mind? What are the cultivars of that monster being fondly referred to these days... The Stepford Wives. Plants can and do hybridize.

Beautiful as it may be, Mimosa is not a good neighbor to many native species of flora or fauna. It is irrefutably invasive in many areas of the country, often propagates freely from seed and also by sprouting new shoots from a dense spreading root structure, and most Minosa is allelopathic in that chemicals from the tree that wash down with rain suppress blooms in other plants and suppress seed germination of yet other species of plants. Mimosa may not be the greatest plant to have growing anywhere near blooming trees that fruit to sustain wildlife as yields can be compromised in the presence of this species.

I guess the question is- should we be willfully and intentionally introducing plants identified as invasive non-natives when we know these plants have already negatively impacted our native ecosystems? Should we allow the nurseries that sell these types of plants to continue to do so at the expense of the American tax payer who ultimately gets stuck paying the clean up bill? Is it ethical?

Please name for me one native plant that has taken over a native plant community. It could be argued that a cattail is the exception to the rule however we now know that there are native cattails and introduced cattails and most people are incapable of differentiating between them. Same deal with Phragmites. Native phragmites decomposes at a considerbly different rate than that which is introduced. This changes the hydrology of the ecosystem and ultimately negatively affects the wildlife that depend upon that ecosystem for survival. Seriously, for all these comparisons of there existing native species that are "just as bad as"... there is no documentation out there of a native plant taking over a native plant community. On the other hand, “invasive plants often behave much like cancer – they are a small, localized problem at the beginning until the population reaches critical mass and spreads to many other areas, becoming widespread problems (Lowenberg 1998, Campbell 1997). This is where priorities come into play: is our society more interested in maintaining biodiversity or the economic health of nurseries?” Good question given many plants were once well behaved garden plants that escaped. Please know there are plants out there that are destroying ecosystems and we are losing biodiversity and the billions of dollars the government spends annually cleaning up this mess is struggling to keep pace with the spread of these species. Many have become public health concerns but extinction of a species is forever and countless species are ending up extirpated as I type.

There are so many well behaved exotics out there that don't wreak havoc in the environment that I just don't understand what the attraction is to those that we know are problems. Forbidden fruit deal? Guy, that goes for you too you bad boy since you are already in zone 6. One tornado coming through where you live while that tree is in seed and it could end up 100 miles south of you in a heartbeat. I have a question for you, are your neighbors as good at identifying volunteer Mimosa seedlings that may pop up on their properties from your tree as you are? We have seen what the hurricanes have moved north and many of those plants that people claimed could barely set seed due to the tropical environment in which they were originally growing are settling in all too well in their new soil. We have learned that often times our best intentions to monitor a plant and keep it in check have often failed us. People who religiously deadheaded their garlic mustard around here sold their homes and moved and the next owners saw no need and let it go. People unsuspectingly trade plants and seed with friends, they move, they die, they suffer illnesses and there are a host of other reasons that stop them from following through with their plans to “control” and “monitor” a plant. I don’t think anyone goes out there and says, “Today I will plant something that will disperse seed that will make its way into a wetland a mile away from me”. Yet this is exactly what is happening out there. I believe the basic nature of people is best stated by something written by Meng-Tse a very long time ago, “The tendency of man’s nature toward good is like the tendency of water to flow downward”. I truly believe our government has failed us all in educating us on the damage non-native species of both flora and fauna can do. Please know that never being able to see a plant spread in one’s own garden doesn’t mean it doesn’t spread elsewhere. “Controllable Plants” can and do become pests when they land in areas where there is an entirely different ecology. Very rarely are people afforded the luxury of seeing the direct result of their own irresponsible plant selections. I think Garret Hardin summed it up quite well, “the effect of an individual's choice to plant an invasive in their garden is insignificant, while the effect of many is quite large especially when a few of those many are not conscientious about preventing their plants from spreading”.

As Faith Thompson Campbell (1997) puts it, "We should be humble; we may never fully understand the invasion process, particularly for each of the hundreds of potentially invasive species in each of our many ecosystems. One truth is clear: as time passes, many species will spread to new areas or increase in density if controlling actions are delayed." Putting "out of place" plants on plant lists is, in most cases, the only way weed scientists have been able to create effective prevention programs because scientific proof is difficult to come by (Parker and Reichard 1998; see Results for the industry's desire for scientific proof).

What Lauren said !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I deal with the consequences of other people's unwise choices all the time on my own property and on state and federal land where I volunteer. April

We had one where I grew up in Okla. in our front yard. It was the only beautiful thing in our yard. The rest was all stickers and ugly juniper bushes. I would have given anything if it had reproduced itself everywhere.