Mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) is treasured as a four month landscape tree for its tropical-like foliage and flowering. This small deciduous tree grows 20 to 25 feet tall and its horizontal branching reaches out widely.

Mimosa leafs out in late May with lush green, tropical-looking pinnately compound foliage and growth is very rapid. From mid-June thru early July, the fragrant lovely flowers appear above the foliage and attract numerous hummingbirds. Its autumnal leaf color is forgettable.

New mimosa cultivar Summer Chocolate™ makes a wonderful garden accent plant, prized for its dark purple foliage and pink feathery blooms. In late winter you may opt to cut back last year’s plant to the ground and re-grow it only for the colorful textural foliage, thereby eliminating flowers and seed pods.

Mimosa is not long-lived, perhaps surviving 15-20 years before a soil disease or other maladies destroy it. It is a pioneering species on abandoned sunny urban sites and poor highway soils. A 2-year old established tree is exceptionally drought tolerant; its roots improves soil tilth and nutrition. Mimosa fixes its own nitrogen.

Many gardeners in the Southern Appalachian region classify mimosa as an “exotic invasive” (USDA hardiness zones 6 and 7).