A Sad Farewell to My Favorite Mimosa ... Or Maybe Not

[zuzu's petals]

The town that I live in is installing a sewer system.
As you might imagine, this involves a great deal of destruction.

Today was the day when all the men with big machines showed up in my front yard.

About 12-15 feet of our lawn closest to the street and the end of our paved driveway
were destroyed ... ... it's not a pretty picture,
but whenever the work is finally done, those can be repaired.

What breaks my heart is something that cannot be fixed as easily,
there was a glorious Mimosa tree, which was planted far enough back that the base of the tree
was not in the way of the machinery, but the tree leaned out toward the street,
and so the destroyers decided that it had to go.
I didn't know about it until it was all over.

Goodbye my beautiful tree.

[bali]

That is so sad.......All that love in your tree .....gone.

[gardeningmom]

Doesn't seem right that a decision like that without speaking to you first! How sad.

[jdkline]

Awwwww zuzu, I am so sorry that you lost your beautiful tree. As big as it was, it had to be there for a long time. That's not something that is easily replaced. I feel your pain, gf.
Deb

[AlphaDog]

Sorry zuzu... I know that had to be hard to see.

But I do have to saw, I wish the Mimosa's in my yard would die and never come back. Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful trees, but I've got about 300 of them that try non-stop each year to come up. I've got one now over 6' tall that I've gotta cut back. They are weeds here. My town is nothing but Mimosas. If I can get pics, I'll let you know...

But I really am sorry your nice Mimosa had to be destroyed.

[zuzu's petals]

Thanks all, I know that in the big scheme of things, this isn't that great of a loss ...
but I knew that you all would understand.

I planted the tree about 12 or 13 years ago Deb,
all that's left of it now is a stump about 18" tall.

Certainly Mimosas can get out of hand and be real pests, just as you say Alpha,
but that's one of the things that had been so nice about this particular one, it was so well-behaved.
I can't explain why, but in all of these years,
we never found any seedlings growing under it or anywhere else in our yard.

Now the Chinese Tallow tree ... ... is another story.

[Shellee]

I would love to trade one of you a mimosa or two for some honey locust. The mimosa sounds like the honey locust trees in my yard. They come up in various places in the yard, but they are no problem to mow down or dig up. In the spring, when they bloom...OH MY...they smell and look so pretty! I have just dug a few seedlings and transplanted in a pot to see if they can make it. So far there are a couple that look pretty good. I also scavenged some seed pods. If any of you are interested, I can send em your way. If the rooted ones take hold, I don't know what I will do with them, 'cause I certainly don't need any more! he he. Nice experiment, anyhow!

[bali]

Will someone show me a closeup of a Mimosa leaf? I have something I like to identify.........

[AlphaDog]

Here ya go bali. I'm posting a couple links for you to go look at.
They are so cool how they close up if disturbed or if hydrostatic pressure changes. Mine are always opening and closing. Mostly at night though. Really weird.

http://www.uaf.edu/grnhouse/genplants/mimosa.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flutterbye856/145184876/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pochacco20/37815276/

[bali]

Hey Alphadog....

Thanks for the literature.....I do think I have th Mimosa Flower.

Not the tree............
I am leaning toward Catapala tree......any photos on that fellow?


I have to get a photo of the Flower..Maybe it is not correct , but looks like it .

[PlantSwap]

Sorry you lost your tree Z. I've got a live oak growing in the back of my property that borders the utility easement. If the city ever decides they want to run some lines back there, I'm going to lose the best looking tree on my property. It's a risk I took when I planted it.

[Mandy]

I just saw your post now about your mimosa and that made me sick. Progress is inevitable I guess but not any easier when you lose something so beautiful. Where I grew up there was a beautiful mimosa growing and I always loved the smell of its flowers. I used to play hide & seek under its branches. I'm heartsick for you, Z.

[ok_nurse]

After two years of prayer-God planted one on my property. I never saw these trees until I moved to Zone 7 and when I saw them-I was intrigued. They are beautiful. So for two years I have tried to get one started but every time I got a seedling-it immediately withered and died-just like AD's link says. I tried transplanting in soil and placing in water-digging the soil around it and taking bigger specimens-I couldn't get a starter. Then this spring one popped into my flowerbed and I was thrilled. Not the perfect place but it will do. They are such tempermental plants!!
Sorry to hear of your loss Zuzu-maybe the nurseries sell them successfully and I just had horrible luck.

[zuzu's petals]

Thanks again, everyone.
I guess that I should just feel lucky that I happend to be watching earlier in the morning,
when I saw where they were planning to locate a big pumping unit.

That intrudes even more deeply into the property than the lines do -
and wouldn't you know it, it was going EXACTLY where my big Coral Bean plant was growing!
I chased down one of the digger opperators and begged him to try to save
that plant when he was digging out that area.
Giving credit where it is due, he did his best,
and with luck that plant will survive when we can get it back into the ground this weekend.

Earlier this spring, I had already done a good deal of plant removal from the 12 foot strip of property closest to the street.
I thought the Coral Bean and the Mimosa were safe, because they were not in the 12 foot "work zone".

The base of the Mimosa was 16+ feet from the street (safe, I thought)
and it was too big to move, anyway.
Apparently, because it was leaning out to catch more sun .... it was in their way,
and they didn't care where the base was .... heck, they left the base for us to deal with.

[bali]

Don't know if that was proper or not?
Letting you get the base......
But welcome to the club,, my field next the road has waterline replaced .
THey been doing it since November.. Still not done.