NikonGear'23

Images => Nature, Flora, Fauna & Landscapes => Topic started by: Tom Hook on August 26, 2016, 20:09:46

Title: Mimosa
Post by: Tom Hook on August 26, 2016, 20:09:46
As seen in my yard this afternoon.
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Jakov Minić on August 26, 2016, 20:12:22
Tom, you are presenting your yard with style :)
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Mike G on August 26, 2016, 20:14:02
Of course the secret is to touch the leaves.
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Tom Hook on August 26, 2016, 20:20:15
Jakov and Mike, thanks for commenting.

Mike: this Mimosa doesn't recoil when you touch it like the ones that were in my yard when I lived in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer many years ago.

(By the way I made a mistake and put this posting in the wrong place. Wanted Flora and Fauna not Future NG Events! Sadly, I tried to erase it and repost but couldn't do it).
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Mike G on August 26, 2016, 20:30:10
Tom, that's a shame but you have shot a lovely pattern!
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: HCS on August 26, 2016, 23:14:21
I think it is a cracking representation of you garden.

Just PM one of the mods and ask nicely, they'll move the thread to the appropriate place.
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Tom Hook on August 27, 2016, 00:46:44
Thanks Hans, I'm glad you like it.

It appears that our friend, Jakov, has corrected my error (I must be getting old).

Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: David H. Hartman on August 27, 2016, 00:53:52
Deceptively pretty. It's an invasive species.
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Tom Hook on August 27, 2016, 01:44:38
Dave,

I don't define it is an invasive. Here in the East, to have one in your yard is a rarity because the climate perhaps is unsuitable for the pervasive spreading of the species. I have never noticed seedlings either existing much less taking root. That quality of "taking over" is not an issue here.

50 years ago, I would visit my Grandmother on the coast of Connecticut and she had one on either side of her front door and would nurture them fearing that the next winter freeze would do them in.

I suppose invasive can be a synonym for "not indigenous". Clearly Mimosas are not indigenous to inland Connecticut. Now if we could do something about the Starlings, House Sparrows, Barberries and so many others which truly are a worrisome infestation and have taken root and spread like the plague. Is the Mimosa defined as such where you live?

Thanks for bringing up this issue. Knowing that it was an exotic has up-to-now appealed to me. I will now view this tree in a somewhat different light. By the way, the tree was here when we moved into this house 14 years ago. Perhaps it has the tenacity of a true invasive after all. It is simply waiting for the climate to change another degree or two in its favor and then it will take over. Egad, seeds do fly however beautiful or vexing their progeny might be!

Cheers,

Tom


added edit:

I have done some research after writing my first note to you. It appears that invasive is a correct description of the Mimosa. When our next winter storm crushingly demasts it as happened a few years ago, I may just take it down for good even though it is "deceptively pretty".
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: David H. Hartman on August 27, 2016, 03:42:26
Dave,

I don't define it is an invasive. Here in the East, to have one in your yard is a rarity because the climate perhaps is unsuitable for the pervasive spreading of the species. I have never noticed seedlings either existing much less taking root. That quality of "taking over" is not an issue here. ...

I have a friend who's neighbor had maybe four of them. One was next to the neighbor's house and about one meter or less from the property line. The sees fly around the neighbor hood and the seedlings spring up in the hundreds. This is So. California so it must be the climate. The neighbor's tree was breaking up their roof so they finally cut the close one down. Another one dumped junk on the neighbors trees so they parked in front of my friend's house to get away from their tree. They cut that one down too much to the relief of my friend. She just hates them. Here they do spring up everywhere even in nursery pots at the opposite end of her property. The sees can germinate up to two years after being dropped. I pull them up from time to time. I don't know where the sees come from.

I once read an article where the writer, an arborist, was asked, "When is the best time to prune a mimosa." His answer was anytime you have a chainsaw handy. :)

Dave
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Tom Hook on August 27, 2016, 04:40:28

I once read an article where the writer, an arborist, was asked, "When is the best time to prune a mimosa." His answer was anytime you have a chainsaw handy. :)

Dave

Priceless quote! You have turned my head on the merits of our Mimosa. I will probably now begin to find seedlings everywhere I look when before I saw none  :P
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Fons Baerken on August 27, 2016, 09:00:00
Very nice natural pattern
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Akira on August 27, 2016, 09:03:01
Wonderful geometry.  Beautiful pattern in the nature!
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: David H. Hartman on August 27, 2016, 11:00:46
Tom,

I really like the photograph. The pattern is striking. Not just the pattern of the leaves but also the composition. The way they over-lap. The mimosa is really beautiful while in bloom. 

Best,

Dave
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Hugh_3170 on August 27, 2016, 15:19:29
I can personally recommend Stihl chainsaws and I am also quite impressed with the latest models from Husqvarna.  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Priceless quote! You have turned my head on the merits of our Mimosa. I will probably now begin to find seedlings everywhere I look when before I saw none  :P
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Tom Hook on August 27, 2016, 18:00:20
Thanks Fons, Akira and Dave for your nice comments.

Hugh, both Stihl and Husqvarna have found their way into my toolshed at one time or another. Unfortunately, after an accident twenty years ago with my Husqvarna chainsaw, my wife put her foot down when I returned from the emergency room with 25 stitches in my arm and told me to sell it. There was no permanent damage but a nasty scar that reminds me of the wisdom of her words every time I see it (shudder). Now my arsenal includes handsaws only, better for both me and the environment!
Title: Re: Mimosa
Post by: Hugh_3170 on August 28, 2016, 06:11:02
Glad that you have only been left with scars Tom.  Chainsaws are great servants but very gruesome masters. 

Fortunately my only accident with a chainsaw was when I dropped one that was not running onto my left knee.  No cuts - just lots of pain.
Title: Re: Mimosa saw
Post by: David H. Hartman on August 29, 2016, 00:03:09
My one incident with with a chainsaw in hand was stepping where I beleived there was earth but there was not. I was on a slope with one foot on a retaining wall and one among the leaves and branches of a fallen tree. The retaining wall was about eight feet high (2.7 meters?). A friend grabbed my belt with two hands lifted me back up. The chainsaw was idling in my my hand.

No harm, no foul but scary.

Dave