Tree of the week: silk tree

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Good morning. We take 10 minutes every Saturday to stop obsessing about the housing market and to appreciate one of the wonders of the California climate -- our trees. This week our tree-loving friend, Pieter Severynen, brings us the silk tree.

Silk tree – Albizia julibrissin

‘In bloom now, the silk tree looks like a soft, silky, feathery, giant shrub, covered with fluffy pink pincushion flowers; the kind that you’d love to go to the nearest nursery for so that you can buy one for your garden. This deciduous (winter bare), fast-growing, sun-;oving tree reaches 40 feet tall and much wider, but it is usually kept to a 15 to 20-foot flat-top umbrella shape. It is beautiful when seen from above, so it fits well in a hillside garden. The ferny light green leaves are light sensitive and ‘go to sleep’ (fold down) every night. Some people find the seed pods that stick around after the leaves drop a little messy. The more summer heat the tree gets the better it grows and blooms.

‘It is OK for us to plant the silk tree here in Southern California, but don’t use it in climates with summer moisture, such as the Southeastern U.S. There its seeds escape from the garden, and it becomes an invasive pest, wiping out native vegetation. Yet another advantage of living here.’

Thanks, Pieter
E-mail Pieter: Plseve@earthlink.net
Photo Credit: City of Cypress website