Mimosa pruning and shaping

well put in a different way any time I go out I look for plants. I only leave my 2 1/2 acres every 2 or 3 weeks so if I'm out I definately look at plants!

oh ok that makes sense. i hope you bring something interesting back from your trip and share the exciting adventure :)

I had expected to find tropicals when I went to visit south florida. Go figure--I brought back a few pieces of a huge cactus! I'll post pictures on the id forum.

good find. maybe its a pretty flowered kind. i really really would like to risk growing a coconut tree, starting spring. i love risks, theyre fun. and i would like to try it myself, i dont like listening to people who say its a waste of time, or that there s hardy alternatives. lol. i wasn to see for myself, and say i tried, no offense to wise words because i do appreciate guidance. i just love the lush look of things in south florida. did you see anything exciting while there?

I am a risk-taker too. As well I appreciate wise advise. Sometimes I just have to give an idea a try though.
I saw what I think were Royal Poinciana flowering a light purple. If they weren't RP then they were beautiful flowering trees of unknown name.There were a much larger variety of palms. (I think trying to grow a coconut tree would be super fun!). There were many mature vines of the "peonia"/Rosary pea--the one everyone has told me not to grow...but alas they are another of my pretty risks.
I stayed in one small area with friends so I didn't get out to any nurseries. The huge spineless cactus was the most unusual find.
I'm going to post the pictures I took in the plant id forum. I'm hoping to get some advice too on rooting. The original cactus has to be ancient. It was taller than me and wider too...lol
The pieces that dropped or broke off of it were scattered around it. A few were rooting (of course I left those there) and several were rotting. That's why I "justified" grabbing a few pieces to bring home. I wish I had taken a picture of it. Oh well,next time.

Royal Poinciana doesn't come in purple so you definitely saw something else. What time of year was it blooming? Jacaranda mimosifolia has very similar looking leaves, but purple flowers. It blooms earlier in the year though so if it's something you saw blooming recently it was probably something else (might need a picture to tell what it was though)

Ecrane, I saw it this past weekend in naples florida. I was too far away to really study it. I guess I'll find out next year or next time I'm down in that area. I do plan a trip there again in february. The thing is that no one else that I go with is so plant obsessed so it's hard to find time to get away and explore.

im thinking of what would be blooming so late like that. it might be phillipine violet but they dont get that large or have the feathery leaves. hmm. queens crape myrtle possibly but i think they might be out of season now.
i hate making plans and they dont fall through. i was planning on planting red and white annuals in the front of the house for a festive and stunning look. but of course it did not happen. maybe next year. theres still time i guess, but i am not sure if i want to see red and white into march or april.

Well I will offer your wisdom back to you--don't fret over what you didn't do. Just find a new idea that will be better.
What can you plant now that will look pretty in early spring? That would give you something new to look forward to!
I'm off to plant shop (well grocery and supply shopping really)...last day out before Christmas so I'll be looking for another hydrangea to compliment the one I planted, amaryllis and other lilies and cruising the cacti. I'm going to look above for the reference to the puff plants. I figure if I go out with a wish-list and find a few items plus a few surprises then it makes wading through the grocery store in the crowd much more fun!

ok, so, its been quite a while lol. im having good feelings about this year gardening wise. i hope you are too! im also getting waves of ideas that i keep drawing or writing down, but most things are difficult for me to turn into reality in my place...

Well I went into hiding after the first frost. I totally know now what you meant when you posted that you felt a sense of hopelessness and apathy regarding the frosts and damage. I was very down in the dumps after the first frost and didn't get on the computer or DG...I figure I might as well get with it because here we're having another frost. So no matter the mistakes of the first frost I have to do better this time because they keep on happening. It's unsettling to see the flat yard! I usually wake up and look out the window and appreciate the beauty. I looked out after the frost and saw mulitcolored blankets and squashed plants.
I have more hope for my tending this time around and I feel that some plants will come back fine--they are already showing their heartiness.
My newest technique is individual round laundry baskets as temporary frames with a sheet and then a blanket over the sheet. I am not using plastic this time.
I just posted in the winter-prep thread and asked you to point me toward the article you mentioned.
How did you fare in the first frost and how does it look for this one we're having?

oh winter, it's now when we feel the most emptiness. but that's what is so great about spring. that's exactly the problem, the first freeze is the one that decides how bad the winter will be. maybe you can appreciate the beauty of protecting the plants in ways that you can?
bingo! i used the same technique with the laundry basket! it works to make a tent - the best protection.
in the freeze Jan. 2nd it was 37, Jan 3rd was 29, and Jan 4th was 36. the thing is, they issued a freeze warning for the 2nd and 4th even though it was above 32degrees. and tuesday night (3rd) was a hard freeze. HOWEVER, no damage was noted for the Hard freeze - apparently we stayed at or above 30. i only covered for the hard freeze, but because there wasn't enough moisture in the air, there wasn't any frost. the following night it was only 36 - BUT there was more moisture and something about dew points - so we had frost. this was when i saw actual damage on some bananas.
my black flamingo is gone (i think) but everything else is undamaged.i feel bad that your plants took a beating

It happens sometimes to all of us. I think my plants took a beating and I took a beating but that was based on lack of experience. I live and learn. I did better this winter than last winter because I kept some plants in planters all year and I dug up a few in fall to get them ready to be brought in. Several kalanchoes (the kind I stared with having the oval leaves) in pots. The big one is still trying to flower!. I have rose cuttings in pots, several cacti, a pot of cannas (though I'm learning that despite the indoors temperatures would drop dead anyway in winter), mimosas especially a couple I grafted are in a few pots inside (most are trying to make it outside). We should all take pictures of the worst frosts. I took a few pictures of the tent city in my yard.

I'm wondering if the fact that I live very close to sea level makes a difference in the severity of the frost affects?

I live near a school with huge mimosa trees. The flowers almost cover the tree, and the pods create a visual barrier between your eyes and the branches. I am planning on planting some in my yard, mostly because I love the feeling of satisfaction when a seeded plant blooms. I currently own some mimosa pudica sees. Does anyone have any experience with them? Any help would be appreciated.

Just to make sure your expectations are appropriate--Mimosa pudica is a small little plant. The mimosa tree is Albizia julibrissin. I'm sure you'll enjoy Mimosa pudica, it's a very cute little plant, but I wanted to make sure you weren't expecting it to be a tree.
Mimosa pudica: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2573/
mimosa tree/Albizia julibrissin: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1764/
Also worth noting that Mimosa pudica is not hardy in zone 8, so you'll either need to treat it as an annual and grow new ones each year, or else bring it in for the winter.

Oh yes I knew it wasn't going to grow into a tree, I just wanted to know if anyone grew it before. I've seen it growing among grass like a weed in central Texas, flowering and growing happily.

I did grow M. pudica from seed once but I don't remember much about it--seems to me it germinated pretty easily though, I don't remember having trouble with it. I mostly grow tropicals from seed so always start my seed trays with bottom heat until they sprout--I'm not sure if that's necessary or not for these but it definitely worked.

^^ yeye, generally yes, but keep in mind almost all of florida is at or near sea level. its the closeness to the sea that counts. if i'm correct you're close to the coast right? being closer to the ocean moderates temperatures and keeps night-time temperatures warmer than inland.

I'm closer to the ocean than mid-state but I am a good ways back. It takes about 45 minutes to drive to the ocean but probably 20 (as the crow flies). I live in a heavily wooded area that is basically the swamp. When it rains alot there are portions of my property that are very wet and swampy.

Ecrane: are those the little plants that close up their leaves when touched?

florida natives must work best for you then yeye? especially in summer.

Yes, Mimosa pudica has the common name sensitive plant because of how the leaves fold up when touched.

Mimosa Pudica is very pretty. I think it would be beautiful under or around a small mimosa(A njulibrissin) tree.

It would look great under a mimosa tree, yes. The matching flowers would catch someone's eye.

how are the plants doing Yeye?

Hi there! I am back online after a week long break to look after my cat and her 5 kittens! My plants are doing great. Of course we're about to have a wicked freeze--I'm sure you know about it already. My bulbs have been coming up beautifully and I am concerned about the freeze for the next 2-3 nights. The amaryllis that you suggested (I bought 2 bulbs to experiment with how the will do out here) are 1 foot high already! My calla lilies are also growing up and I may have some dafodills in there. (I know it's silly to not know this but a friend planted daf's for my last year and I didn't see if they are bulbs :/)
All of the trees in the woods are also budding and have tiny leaves. And it's going to be 29 degrees here tonight!
My mimosa (the big one) has not put out any leaves yet which now I think is good news because they'd surely freeze right off again. The little mimosas that I'm sculpting are bare but alive and the potted ones that come inside during cold weather do have leaves already.
Do you have any suggestions on the best way to protect the bulbs? My plan as of now is to use the small round laundry baskets (upside down) over the bulbs and then blankets and cloth over the baskets.

How are your plants doing? Have you decided yet on your spring projects? I can't wait to hear...you always have inspiring ideas!

daffodils are bulbs, and the amaryllis are doing good i see. the daffodils can tolerate the freezing weather well. if you want to protect the bulb plants, you can drape a blanket over them, basically over the ground where they are planted. bulbs are a little safer during a freeze, but if you don't want the new leaves to dry up then go ahead and just toss a blanket on. the laundry basket can be saved for something larger or more tender. but you can still try the basket on the bulbs if you'd like to see how well it works.
i am very very happy to see that they haven't placed my area (or brevard) on a freeze warning! they might change it later though as the night progresses, i really dont want to haul containers in tonight.
my plants are doing great for now. i am impressed with everything. i think the rain last night and the cool nights coming will benefit them. hmm, ideas. i've been dreaming most of winter lol. but it's a good idea for you to grow some milkweed - you should draw butterflies out from the woods easily. this, hopefully, is the last freeze event that will happen for winter. stay warm!

Thanks for the daffodil confirmation...I feel ditsy to even have asked.
For some odd reason I was thinking the bulbs' new growrth would be more sensitive--not the actual bulb but the growth. I was worried that if the growth froze then they wouldn't come back this season.
I have about 8 small round laundry basket-frames so I did use 3 on the bulb area, trying to cram in as many into one basket as possible...out there talking to them, saying "please share..."
I have the baskets, blankets and sheets over that space now so at kleast I'll rest better and avoid heartbreak. It's the first year I have amaryllis and I am amazed at the size difference of the different lilies! I almost bought something called peruvian lilies--incredibly beautiful but I thought I'd better check first to see if they can grow here (since I had no luck with the bearded dragon byulbs that shouldn't have been sold in my zone...)
I wrapped the trunks of my 2 young bougainvillea. Their leaves froze last time but the wood is alive--thank God.
I tried to get as much of them covered as possible.
I lightly draped my gardenia since it seems more hearty to cold. My cannas have started coming up which was good news untill this morning. I did the best I could with them thinking they'd rebound if the worst case scenario occurred.
I covered as many of the small mimosa sculptures as cloth and space allowed, and I lightly covered the ground-cover plants simply because I don't want to make them have to start all over again (they are simple plants like wandering jew). My bath tub is now filled with kalanchoe varieties and other sensitive plants in pots, cacti and succulents etc and a rose cutting that has rooted. My 2 rose bushes did surprisingly well last 2 frosts and I wrapped their trunks as as much foliage as I could fit in. One is red (don't know the variety) and the other is yellow "hotel california".
I'm happy to hear for you that you aren't going to be affected by this weather.
Has anything grown for you in the warm-burst we had recently?

Hope you don't mind me popping in, but the warm burst I've been having as caused my daffodils to shoot up flowers early! The first one opened in late January. The majority of them are opening now, when they were due to open in mid march. Bougainvillea is frost tender, yes, but they can be grown in many places as long as it is warm. I would make sure that they stay protected throughout thw winter, if you haven't already done so.

Daffodils in january? That's awesome!!! I'd love to see pictures if you took any.
My bulbs, including the daffodils, arte still popping up and growing nicely. Flowers...a little later but I hope to see some in march.
The three plants I'm concerned about now are the 2 bougainvillea (scraping the bark they are still green but not a single new sprout or leaf is coming in yet) and the Mimosa original tree (same there, scraping shows green but no new leaves yet). Add to that that I've somehow mispalced the pruning tool I need and I guess I'm going to wait and give them a bit more time.
Has anyone fertilized yet?

well im back from my long break from posting lol. its nice to hear your daffodils are up Bloomfly. they must look nice and cheerful! Yeye, nice to hear your bougainvilleas made it & i think we can start fertilizing right about now, but lightly. tomorrow is March!

Yes! I finally got mimosa seeds, no I can enjoy the puffy pink flowers (tree seeds). How do I sow them? And yes, I will try to get some photos,as there are some still blooming.

This message was edited Mar 2, 2012 11:16 PM

hi, I have been gone from the board too...Bloomfly, did you sow the mimosa seeds yet? They tend to "want to" grow under almost any condition here. The only thing I would say is that there is a moment in their growth cycle that you have to leave them where they are, meaning transplanting will likely kill them. So I'd recommend sowing them directly where you want them (if weather permits). If that's not possible, wait until they are at least a foot tall and beefy to move them.
Kevin it seems you and I are on the same schedule. I fertilized right around march 1st. (I didn't even want to post that bcs I thought i was "pushing it"). It's good to know I am on time.
The bouganvilleas --IF they are alive--will need to prove it. They are pruned as far as possible to the ground and are doing nothing. I'm happy I have a new growth from a root that brook and I potted. I think if that is growing and the original plants are not then I may have to either get new ones or live with it.
On a happier note, I am going silly with my mimosa sculpting project. Most are doimng exactly what I wish. I mashed one very badly...broke it while trying to maneauver it. I feel badly. I did the same thing i'd do with an intentional graft (plus prayed). It will be interesting to see if it can repair After this. I hope so.
My loops and triangle look great!

No i have not, and I hope its not to late. I didn't want to waste the seeds.Here are the photos you wanted to see yeye5. I also posted one of my tulip lily.

Thanks for the beautiful pictures! It gives me a clue about what may be coming up in my garden :-)
I have been trying to post pictures and twice it didn't happen and the post and pics disappeared. I will try again later.

I would like to ask for help on a tree question...tried starting a new thread but there seems to still be a glitch.
The small (original/largest) mimosa and I have been doing a tree-bending workout.
I posted earlier about trying to bend the branches off the top of my roof and was trying to avoid either over pruning or removing the tree or the top of the tre.
So...diligently I bent the tree almost every day for a week and a half.
I was done for the day today and for some odd reason at dusk I went out to rearange the ropes. I ended up breaking the top (that I was trying to avoid removing) of the trunk. It is still attached. I have seen miraculous recoveries by trees, especially those though to be "invasive".
QUESTION: shall I leave well enough alone and see if the tree recovers?
Is there something I can/should do to help the tree repair from my excess of "help"?
At this point there is exposed inner wood on top--of course it had been dry here for weeks which would have been perfect weather for the tree to repair without getting moisture or rot inside. Now it has rained yesterday (tree top broke today). It looks like rain coming some more.
I feel like a dingus. Is there something I should do to help the tree after I broke it...?

Can you post some pictures? It's hard to make any predictions without being able to see the extent of the damage. I think there's a good chance that the tree itself won't die (although you may get some sprouts near the break that will give the tree an awkward look), but if you were hoping that somehow the broken part would be able to heal/reattach that's unlikely--you'll probably be best off cutting it off the rest of the way. Current wisdom is not to try and paint/coat broken/cut parts of trees, leave it alone to do its natural healing process.

You might be able to graft it back on. I my self have never had succes from grafting, but it is worth a try if you really want to save it. A bit of fungicide should stop or reduce rot.

Thanks to both of you. Looking at it this morning it didn't look nearly as disastrous...The curling leaves I saw from my window last night were on the part that was broken and had detached. I did get the piece that broke the whole way off. Since I can't reach that high with any step stool I have, I am having to wait til next weekend when friends will come up with a ladder to help me out.
Again since I can't reach that part I deceided grafting would be impossible--although I turned it over in my mind most of last night...
What I did do was to scarpe a bit at an exposed root of the tree and cram the broken branch to the root and tie it to hold it as close a spossible. It may be that the whole branch/top part (that came off) will not survive...but why not try mashing it up to the root...who knows.
I will try posting pictures again. For some reason I haven't been able to for the past 2 days :-)
Still can't post pics (?) I copied this text to repaste it becaus ethis has been happening to me on DG for a couple of days...

Good news from the mimosa-obsessive! The tree is happy! It is in an arch curling from top to the railing of the front steps and behind them (on the outer side of the steps) which is causing all the new growth and new leaves to grow upwards toward my bedroom window!
I'll post new photos as it grows.
Also the mimosa "knots" I was trying to make by bending saplings around in a loop and then trying to "tie" the knot by moving the new growth through the loop are doing well. After breaking two and grafting them with love and prayer I got the third to knot without any drama! The two that broke and I grafteds ot themselves are sprouting new leaves! Hooray!