Hug This Tree: Mimosa
March 10, 2009 by Jennifer
The mimosa is not just a fruity cocktail, but a pretty cool tree. Otherwise known as the Albizia julibrissin or silk tree, the mimosa has lots of neat components that make up the whole of the tree….
Such as beautiful silk-like fragrant pink to yellow flowers that appear in mid summer.
And the cool palm-looking leaves…
The mimosa is a perennial that’s part tree / part shrub that’s hardy in zones 6-9. This tree is really pretty, and birds and butterflies are especially drawn to it. However, the mimosa is also packed with pollen that can cause allergies in some people. I like the mimosa because of it’s wild shape and I like that the flowers look like those neat lamps that light up at the edges – know what I mean? Those popular in the 80s lamps? If you know tell me the name of these lamps in the comments, because frankly, not knowing the name is driving me nuts.
But I digress. Do you have any mimosa trees near you? And if so, what do you think?
[images (c) 2002 Steven J. Baskauf via bioimages]
I love these trees. They grow wild here in coastal North Carolina. I call them pom-pom trees because of the fluffy pink flowers.
I’m not sure where you live, but throughout most of the US the Mimosa is an invasive exotic (it’s from Asia). They are beautiful, but their fast spreading ways are very detrimental to our native trees.
I live in Virginia. 2 weeks ago my son started sneezing in the am. 12 sneezes in a row. Great mucus production. I think I have it narrowed down to the mimosa tree outside his bedroom wndow. It started flowering two weeks ago. Thanks for the info on the website.