Mimosa or Silk Tree......

I'm here to ask the experts.... I'm working on a ladies yard and commented on her beautiful Mimosa tree...... She promptly corrected me and said that it wasn't a Mimosa it was a Silk Tree...... She's paying me to work on her yard so I didn't say anything more but I thought "Silk Tree" was just another name for Mimosa .........

So question - What is the difference between the two... ? or is it really one and the same ...?

"Technically" a mimosa is a member of the genus Mimosa (which includes mostly herbaceous plants, such as the sensitive plant that closes its leaves when touched). It's closely related to the genus Albizia, which includes the common invasive weed tree Albizia julibrissin, which is probably the "silk tree" you're seeing. Nearly everyone calls the silk tree Albizia "mimosa tree" because of the foliage similarity to true Mimosa, but other trees also are called silk tree in various regions. Albizia and Mimosa also are similar in that Albizia julibrissin, while not folding its leaves when touched like Mimosa pudica, does fold them at night.

Bottom line: Call it Albizia -- then have a little fun. Inform her that you iunvestigated and found out that it's one of the worst invasive pests in the southern US, and that you might have to remove it for her (at her expense) before it spreads throughout the county -- that'll set her back a notch! Hee-hee-hee! :-)

I expect the Patron Saint of Silk Trees, Equilibrium, to check in on this thread soon!

Guy S.

Too tired ;)

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/551677/

I presume she's in a nice neighborhood and wants show stopping curb appeal? Take her aside and look around to pretend to make sure the coast is clear. Tell her you did a little checking up on silk trees and that you just discovered she's got the tree form equivalent of toxic waste growing in her yard so you wanted to give her a heads up just in case the neighbors ever commenting and wanted to know why little silk trees were popping up here there and everywhere.

Just kidding. There's some great information on the net regarding the havoc species like these wreak in the environment. Print off a few but provide her with good replacement choices and call it a day. Most people truly have no idea how horribly invasive these trees are. It's not as if Moms go to parks to let their kids play and sit around on park benches discussing noxious weeds. Wish they did but (sigh) we haven't heightened public awareness to the extent that this happens yet.

I don't think anyone calls it Mimosa here, just Silk Tree or Albizia. Everyone slams this tree but it is not an invasive tree in all areas. It is an admired ornamental here that rarely sets viable seed. The advocates for noxious weed status have spoken and now I'm going to say that this tree has it's merits in the right place. After all, a weed is only a plant not wanted. Obviously this lady wants the tree. I could tell you of the horrible invasiveness of English Ivy, English Holly or Daphne but it probably doesn't apply to where you are.

As for the name, they are one of the same and you are both right for a common name. When you say Mimosa I think of the Sensitive plant or a drink.

The ability to set viable seed is not necessarily the only concern of and or associated Silk Trees growing in Zone 5 or warmer. You are correct though, it is an admired ornamental most unfortunately. And this tree most certainly has its merits, when growing in Iran or Japan where it is an indigenous species.

I am tired and need to go back to work so please excuse me for taking the lazy way out by merely cutting and pasting a post I wrote a while ago to a member here.

"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? Does 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)."

I don't see her giving up her tree......(she has boston ivy too) and I have to say I'm guilty as well.... I have a few in the yard and have to control their population.... I can see how they'd easily get out of hand......

Good Luck Equilibrium on your plight to control invasive plants..... it's a monumental task most of us aren't so willing to dedicate time to ...... but should

thanks for everyones input .......

Thanks for your kind words vs71009, I appreciate it. Shoulda coulda woulda, you should see my list of all the things I should have done. Overwhelmeing to say the least but I do what I can when I can for the County and State. Mostly I focus on my own property which is loaded with more than enough exotic invasives to keep me busy the next ten years and beyond.

We're all guilty of inadvertently planting exotic invasives. It happens. We're in our infancy learning about these species. There are so many well behaved exotics out there that it is often difficult separating them out. The other issue is misuse of the word weed. Not all weeds are exotic invasives. Baby steps is what it takes which is why I had written, "Print off a few but provide her with good replacement choices and call it a day." Nobody wants to be force fed anything and non-gardeners need to be exposed to information that may defy logic to them in little bits not a vavoom. These concepts are new to non-gardeners. They need time to digest them and if they so decide to remove that type of a tree and replace it with a more appropriate choice, that's great. But if they don't, that has to be respected too.

Pssst, I planted 100 plugs of English Ivy here the year before the house was finished to get things going before we moved in. Oh, that area got going alright. The stuff actually heaved my concrete sidewalks trying to make a break for my front lawn. We replaced entire sections of side walk and began to remove the ivy. It's 3 years later and I'm still battling a few that crop up to taunt me every now and then. Some mistakes just aren't fun enough to want to repeat. I've done far worse.

I am in the south - and just wanted to say there are some of us who love this tree. There are three on my street and I have never found a seedling in the area, not that we would not love to grow one here too. Just my two cents - there are those of us who do love this tree to remember Grandmas house.... Mitch

Mitch, point well taken. Many people love this tree -- it's gorgeous in bloom, grows quickly, and has terrific foliage. We even have one here in our arboretum. Of course, we're in a zone where it's barely hardy and not invasive (at least, not until global warming kicks into high gear).

My suggestion to VS71009 was meant (mostly) as a joke. But I did want him/her to be aware that this is a major pest species in parts of the South, which might or might not be (or become) a problem in Kansas.

Many people love popcorn tree too, and Asian honeysuckles, and some of the other invasive species that are destroying our natural habitats and costing hundreds of millions of dollars annually in eradication and economic losses. Equil has given all of us enough info to make you aware of these problems -- making responsible decisions now is up to you. That doesn't necessarily mean ripping out Grandma's precious mimosas in areas where they either can't become a threat or where they're already so firmly entrenched in the local flora that it's hopeless -- it means being careful not to let them or other exotic weeds spread into new areas, and eliminating them in areas where they are just beginning to show their dark sides.

Besides, why not plant native trees that (unlike mimosa) provide for wildlife, have nice fall color, are sturdy in storms, and fit in with the natural context of your area?

Guy S.

I agree with Guy S & Equilibrium!

I not an expert on Kansas Invasives, but....Kansas is next to Missouri, which is next to Arkansas, etc...and I'm guessing that if Albizia isn't already an invasive in Kansas, it will be soon.

Now that you have this info, I hope you stand up straight and inform this lady that her pompous sounding "silk tree" may not be as elegant as she thinks. (Not in those words of course, LOL)

Off topic: Do you have a lot of Osage Orange trees in Osage, KS? Just a guess.

Mimosa, Chinese Tallow, Chinese privet, Japanese privet, Japanese honeysuckle, Japanese climbing fern, Golden Rain tree, Nandina ,all of these plant are capable of ruining your land if you live in the southern states. There are some exotics down here that I can say are well behaved and that I plant. Camellias, Hydrangeas, and Azaleas are some of them.

I plant a good mix of Natives (sumacs and nuts mostly) and imports. Almost everything small in my yard but my DLs are all natives and the bulk of my shrubs are natives or roses. There are just a few trees that yes you have to be careful with but do bring back something special in the mind. Mitch