Albizia in Bloom

- Tropical Fever in Stanley Park

August 22, 2005 - Known as the Silk Tree, Albizia is better known in the sheltered and milder climates of the southern United States though some varieties are hardy enough to survive a New Jersey winter.

A beautiful specimen is now in bloom just north of the main bank of tennis courts along Stanley Park Drive near the Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden. It's not every year that park goers are treated to this silky pink, mop-head of a flower which is daintily supported above this tree's finely cut leaves. But recent dry summers combined with two relatively mild winters have provided near perfect conditions for this medium-sized tree to put on a late summer show.

First introduced into cultivation in the mid eighteenth century, it is a native of West Asia and often used as a foliage plant for sub-tropical bedding schemes. Albizia usually requires a high wall for successful cultivation where heat is trapped and reflected thereby creating the warmer conditions it requires. The variety in Stanley Park is most likely Albizia Julibrissin with its pink pompom like blooms. This variety of Albizia grows to about 30 feet but is not hardy in an open situation.

Also known as mimosa, or silky acacia, Albizia is a small to medium-sized tree that can grow up to 20-40 feet tall. The bark is light brown, nearly smooth, and generally thin with lens shaped areas along the stem. The attractive fern-like leaves of mimosa are finely divided, 5-8 inches long by about 3-4 inches wide, and alternate along the stems. Silk tree has showy and fragrant pink flowers, about 1½ inches long, that are arranged in panicles at the ends of branches. Fruits are flat, straw-colored pods about 6 inches long containing light brown oval-shaped seeds about ½ inch in length. Pods ripen in August to September and begin to disintegrate soon after, but remain on the trees into winter.

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