I'm surprised you're having a problem with the Mimosa. We have two trees in the back yard and they stay where they are. I haven't seen any other sproutings anywhere in our yard. It DOES have huge roots though, and some don't go very deep so there are a few spots my husband has to be careful mowing over.

Very easy to grow. If you can find someone with a tree, just take a stick and root it. That's how this tree was started, literally from a stick in the ground 5 years ago when we moved in.

Windi

Mimosa poses many problems. They grow fast and can be invasive. The feathery flowers blow off the tree and stick to houses and cars. They are hard to remove and can leave permanent marks. If you plant one, keep it as far from the house as possible.

I love Mimosa trees. Although they can be a little messy when the dead flowers start falling off. I've never had a problem with them being invasive. True, they will re-seed wherever they can, but it's not too difficult to control them. Their beauty and the sweet fragrance of the flowers make them worth it to me. And since the hummingbirds love them, that's an added bonus.

I think they are rather short-lived trees and just die when they reach a certain age. I had a big one in my front yard (don't know the age) and my neighbor across the street had one about the same size as mine. They both died the same year. Now I only have one straggly one behind my garage, but several seedlings growing. I hope to successfully transplant one in a desirable location.

I love momosa trees as long as they are growing along the road or on someone elses property. They are quite invasive here. Their seed come up everywhere. They do make great tress to climb and play in. When I was small my friends and I lived in the top of momosa trees during the summer. There was one in the church yard across from my house and we had a understanding that we would meet at the mimosa tree at a certain time.

Beautiful picture. My earliest ones should start blooming by mid June. Others haven't even set buds yet.

jp

Mimidi, thanks for the bit of nostalgia. I think that's one of the reasons I like mimosas so much..they remind me of playing when I was a kid and smelling that sweet flower scent. And that reminds me of popping crepe myrtle buds between my fingers, and sucking on honeysuckle and sasafrass, and stomping on mollypops, and catching lightning bugs, and all those other things we did to amuse ourselves out in the country.

...and Roberta we did not have air-conditioning in the early years. I remember those things you mentioned too.

Agreed, real hummer magnets, but I sometimes need binoculars to see them as my mimoma is huge. It is 20 yrs old and was started from seed. It is in leaf but no flowers yet. It's too early for cinti. It does reseed like crazy, but if you just pull them like weeds when small they're easy to control. I also have another smaller one a few years old which I grew to replace the old one in case it croaks. I wouldn't want to be without one.

Mimidi That was such a lovely story! It reminded me of the trees we would climb in two favorites were crabapples and beech trees we could really hide in the beech trees the leaves were dark too. Sarah

I don't think I could even climb a tree now. But driving down the road to my house I see all these mimosa trees and the memories come flowing back. My granddaughters don't even know how to climb a tree.

invasive oh my type, you can send all shoots you want ill pay postage!!!! i can just imagine them all over. LOL Dessa

I know what you mean mimidi As far as I know I don't think my 16 or 18 year old ever climbed one that I know of. I think my 23 year did only because her dad took a picture of her in a neighbors tree. Speaking of trees I noticed the most beautiful tree in bloom a couple of weeks ago I didn't remember it blooming before So I posted a picture on the tree forum and found out it was a Kentucky yellowood Now I just bet the hummers were all over it! I sure wish I had one. Sarah

Could someone please tell me the scientific name & or specific type of mimosa? I looked it up on hortiplex and got 51 results and they all seemed quite different. One was called a "sensitive mimosa, a.k.a. touch-me-not." Totch-me-not is on the NJ audibon socity hummer & butterfly attractors list. I don't think that this is the tree that you are reffering to. How big do they get? Will they live in Z6 PA? I would be interested in a sucker & pay shipping.
Thanks.
JD

JD, I have no idea what the ones growing in my area are, but the link below is to the NC State horticultural site and I'm guessing that it must be one of the two they list. I think ours look more like the first one which they say is hardy only in zones 7-8 (although the ones here are not yet blooming so I'm imagining the flowers only from memory)

Here is a link that might be useful: NCSU Site

jjdbike They don't bloom until around july here. and in 2001 I wanted to buy one for the hummingbirds so I went to Mostardi's in Newtown Square and I was told that it's illegal to sell mimosa in Pa or maybe Delaware County it like japenese honeysuckle beautiful smelling hummers love it but very invasive like a weed Some are brilliantly pink some almost white the the flowers look very wispy it doesnt grow very tall but you will see them in july-august in bloom around here. Sarah

Beautiful picture!
It comes up on its own around here, too, so technically it may be invasive, but it doesn't compare with Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese privet or kudzu in its aggressiveness. I wouldn't hesitate to plant it for hummers, myself, if I had any room left.
There's a red flowering type that I've always wanted to try.
Sherry

on roberta's link, the one named "albizia julibrissin" looks just like the mimosas around here. I think that's the one.

That's the kind we have up here the red kind. I don't know why it's illegal to sell up here Miss Sherry but it might be the red form that's more invasive. Sarah

I am still interested in a coulple of suckers from the red kind that grow up here. I can't be illegal to mail suckers for free. I am unbelievably anal about weeding such that nothing escapes it's originally intended home. Actually I am this way to a fault. Things that I want to spread, reseed, etc.. can't, as I am too obsessive compulsive at weeding. It breaks through the soil, its yanked immediatly.
Again I'll pay packaging and shipping. Feel free to e-mail me at jjd.bike@verizon.net
JD

sarahbn....

It must be that they are illegal to sell in Delaware County, as just recently I saw a small mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) for sale at a local nursery. I can't say that I've seen them for sale often, but then I don't always look at the trees when I'm browsing at a nursery.

It would appear to me that mimosas are similar to bufferfly bush (Buddleia Davidii) in the way that they re-seed in this area. If you see them growing, yank them out when they're young -- or give them to a friend or neighbor!. They spread, but not uncontrollably.

I have two young mimosas that have not yet bloomed, so I am not really speaking from experience, just observation.

Regards,
Kate

Kate I was shocked when the owner told me that but Mostardi's is a very reputable nursery so I never questioned him. Sarah

While they do show up a bit in the wild in New Jersey, as an invasive they are rather wimpy compared to Japanese Stilt Grass and Mile a minute vine. You see them a bit along highways, but really... I don't think they are a true mimosa, but come from another genus the name of which escapes me. Like all you others, I have memories too. Being very small and watching ants on parade to the flowers, climbing a big one in a girlfriends front yard... This is one of those childhood trees, for many of us, the first tree we got to know.

I want this tree! I want seeds! I'll try in the exchange forum but if someone have some of the Mimosa Tree (albizia julibrissin "rosea") please let me know. I like the picture Windii show us and I have a space in my front yard where a tree used to be ....
I work hard for my hummers... :)
Diana

Sarah, the kind that come up on their own here are all pink - I think both the pink and the red are albizzia julibrissin, just different cultivars.
My grandmother had one growing over the swing on her back patio - the flowers were sure pretty and they sure smelled good!
Sherry

That's interesting Miss Sherry I never smelled them. But I do have a neighbor who has one and he said he gets so many hummers because of his mimosa. Don't they have seed pods I bet if anyone wants one they could probably get some seeds from a pod It kind of reminds me of the locust tree but they have yellow blooms or maybe that's the other species of mimosa anyway they are pretty to look at like a powder puff. Sarah

In another couple of months I will have seed pods galore. Not sure if mine is the pinker species, but could post photos when it blooms so anyone who's interested could see if you like it. Then anyone wants seed pods I will be happy to send.

wonder if they would survive the michigan(zone 5) winters??--ED

oh, sarah, go experience the olfactory delight that is mimosa! they smell soooo good, and very strong. I swear one could be found in the dark.
my grandmother had one in her front yard in st louis when I was a kid, and my brother and I spent many hours climbing it.

When they are in bloom next month I will go into someones yard and take a deep breath. I never grew up with them My grandmother lived with us she grew roses and melons and had a green thumb. But we had great crabapples and beech trees to climb and dogwood trees . We had hummingbirds too and I lived in the city of Philadelphia granted near a woods and that was in the 1950's and 60's. Sarah

Eddie I don't think they are hardy in zone 5. One is hardy in zone 6 and one in zone 7 for sure. You could try your hand at winter sowing some seeds that seems to help make them a bit hardier.

I have a Baja Fairy Duster growing right now from seed that I winter sowed. They stay quite small and can be grown in containers and overwintered inside as a house plant in colder climates as they are zoned for 9-10. It is similar in habit and appearance to a mimosa and in the same family and is also a good hummer attractor. Mine is still quite tiny since it just germinated about a month ago but it has two little branches on it so far.

Penny

Here is a link that might be useful: Baja Fairy Duster

I too love these and from my earliest childhood, we had one that had been planted at the first house I lived in - literally right up against the house by the front door. I always thought the flowers were gorgeous and there was something very feathery about the whole tree that made it so unique compared to the other trees. Of course as my mom was wont to say - it was a messy tree when the blooms were done and became a sticky mess all over the walk. Still... I suppose planting them away from any pavement is probably best. ;-)

Jenny I have to ask was this in Mt Airy? Then I will ask again did you or your mom notice any hummingbirds on it and what does it smell like? just curious My neighbor said the same thing last year but she grew up in the north jersey shore area. Sarah

Jenny I am so glad you mentioned the "sticky mess all over the walk". I thought I remembered the mist of this sweet, sugary stuff falling on me while I was chimbing and playing under this tree. The smell was out of this world too.

I remember finding just the right limb and hanging by my knees as I swung upside down pretending that I was in the circus. My mother would have had a heart attack if she had of seen me.

Wendi thank you so much for starting this thread. It has brought back some of the most wonderful memories. I have thought of people I have not thought of in many years. It has also brought to mind my first Bible Schools in the summer and the pop cycles that were delivered in paper boxes with dry ice to keep them frozen. It was always a treat to get a piece of that dry ice. It have helped me remember some of the most pleasant times of my childhood.

Mimosa is a magical plant! I almost feel deprived. Sarah

I'd encourage others to look for non-invasive alternatives to mimosa. I've planted red buckeye, an eastern native, for a tree that blooms during spring migration, which is more important. Blooming later in summer, there are plenty of non-invasive non-tree species which can keep the birds happy.

If you must use an invasive, how about a native? Trumpet vine, for example, in the southeast.

I plant cardinal vine under some bradford pears, and by late fall there is more cardinal vine than bradford pear. Since it's an annual, it's easy to pull off the excess vines during the winter. It's not invasive, and can transform a "blah" tree into one that's very attractive to hummers in the late summer and fall. There are other trees and shrubs that hummers like. I some of the species below could be invasive, I'd check a list for your area. What's invasive in one region may not be in another.
Azalea
Cape Honeysuckle
Flame Acanthus
Flowering Quince
Lantana
Manzanita
Tree Tobacco
Turk's Cap
Weigela

Vines
Coral Honeysuckle (aggressive)
Cypress Vine
Scarlet Runner Bean
Trumpet Creeper (invasive, but native, I have a "less invasive" cultivar.)

You may think that you can keep mimosa under control, but you can't. Birds scatter the seeds over wide areas, and they can choke out native species.
Oddly, biodiversity requires locally "limited" ecosystems. Invasive alien species displace local natives.

I agree with the problem with the silk tree.....Way too overused in areas in the west, and there are many alternatives to bring in hummers with both woody and soft tissue plants. From Agastache to Weigela, many other foundation and focal plants can be used in benefiting the hummers..

Sarah - sorry missed your message! Yep, this was in Mt. Airy, not far from Germantown Ave. There are some houses not far from there that have them in the front yards and there's a very large one near that church at Gowen & Stenton. In fact, what is wild is that right by the Cedarbrook Mall on Cheltenham Ave & Mt. Pleasant, there was that large undeveloped lot that in the past year was finally bulldozed and is being developed, and there were a ton in there, all growing wild and self-seeding.

Oh my goodness I never noticed them growing up or their famous smell! But I never noticed trumpet vines untill the summer of 1986. Thank you Jenny. Sarah

My wife grabbed a seed pod off a tree outside the hotel
in Sedona in May '04 and immediately planted the seeds when we got home. We now have six little trees in gallon pots
along with the hibiscus that she ripped off from our house in Port Charlotte. Problem is they gotta come inside for the Cape Cod winter. Oh well, we did buy the 40 acres in AZ!

I've found that the hummingbirds love hosta. I didn't know they did but they sure seem to. :)

For southerners, here's an alternative that's less invasive than the Mimosa tree, Desert Willow tree. Hummingbirds love the flowers and they're beautiful as well, with an appearance similiar to that of orchids:

Here is a link that might be useful: Desert Willow tree

thanks sowngrow, I wrote all that down immediately. what an excellent looking tree. the blossoms look like a light purple crossvine. I'm going to post a link over on ruby's thread; she's looking for a tree for colorado.
great suggestion, thank you!

What a beautiful tree I never heard of it before Great info! Sarah

Me neither. Very pretty tree. I would not mind having one.

For those who are interested in the Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) tree, you might want to take a look at High Country Gardens -- they offer two varieties.

As I am located in zone 6, I opted for a tree that's a cross between the Desert Willow and a catalpa tree that I purchased from Arrowhead Alpines. The Chitalpa tree (Desert Dawn, I think it was called) is supposed to be hardier than the Desert Willow. Mine is now several years old -- large enough to have a few scattered pinkish blossoms this year, but with few hummingbirds around, I did not see them using the flowers.

You can also purchase seed for the Desert Willow (not the chitalpa) from Western Native Seed.

I grew a Desert Willow tree from seed and also bought one for $35 (about 4' tall) at a local organic nursery. Although the $35 wasn't what I consider cheap for that size tree, it pacified my desire for hummingbird nectaring flowers quicker than my start up that's only 10" tall right now. I may have extra Desert Willow seeds. I'll look and post them on the exchange page if I do.
Robin

How big is yours hummer k8? Do they have a website? I bought a native crabapple at redbud native plant nursery in Media. I know they love crabapples. Sarah

Sarah they do have a website. highcountrygardens.com

Hummer8 thanks for the information. I just got my fall catalog from High Country Gardens yesterday. Will check out this tree.

Sarah,

My chitalpa is about 8 feet tall. I've had it probably 5 years -- it grew fairly quickly. I was a little worried about it at first, as we had some drought years back then, but it came through okay.

I included a link to Arrowhead Alpines below. They are a small mail order nursery located in Michigan. They specialize in alpines, but they're also interested in "pushing the limit on zones," so they've tried growing lots of plants outside there in Michigan that are normally classed as Zone 7 or higher. They have their plant list online, but don't have online ordering as yet. I've ordered several times from them.

Again, I have not seen hummingbirds using the chitalpa, but it has just started blooming, and doesn't have a lot of blossoms.

I have a young mimosa that bloomed for the first time this year -- again, just a few blossoms and no hummers. But I still got a thrill seeing those fluffy pink flowers!

As a side note, last evening I spotted my first two juvenile hummingbirds of the season. It was such a joy to watch them poke their beaks into every flower they came upon -- even obviously wilted or dead flowers. It makes me laugh when they do that and the flower kind of sticks to their beaks and falls off when they back off.

The fun begins!

Here is a link that might be useful: Arrowhead Alpines

Thanks hummer k8bI just might order one from them unless I can get one locally from redbud. The juveniles are fun to watch I have one young male who looks like he has a five oclock shadow
{{gwi:989756}}
Sarah