Trees — Kinimori

Jan 30

Jan 30 A beloved Albizia julibrissin has fallen : (

After some serious high winds in January, I came upon a sad sight. One of my beloved Albizias was down!

Also known as the Persian Silk Tree, Albizia julibrissin is native to Ethiopia, southwestern and eastern Asia. I think that the Albizia produces arguably the most beautiful and exotic-looking blooms of any tree that can be grown outdoors in the UK. For me, it’s up there with Laburnocytisus adamii, if you know what that looks like.

A ‘Summer Chocolate’ brown-leaved Albizia, I had nurtured it for THREE years in a 50L pot. This was it’s second year planted directly in the ground. It was doing very well and had given me the most amazing fluffy pink blooms every year. Now it is no more. Snapped near the base of the stem. I had wrapped it up in a XL frost jacket bought from a French company which had served me well in earlier years. I must not have secured it properly, resulting in the covering acting as a sail in the strong wind.

I’ve left the stump in the ground (honey fungus or no honey fungus!) in the HOPE that it might re-sprout.

I have double-checked the jackets on my other covered plants in order to reduce the risk of this catastrophe happening again. I cover my Albizias because when I purchased them, I was of the belief that they were not fully hardy. I’m not sure where that understanding came from now. The RHS rates Albizia julibrissin f. rosea as H4 and the ‘Summer Chocolate’ as H3, but does caution about dieback and other effects in harsh winters or other adverse conditions. In my experience (in London) Albizia julibrissim f. rosea certainly does seem to be somewhat less affected by frost than the chocolate variant.

I am going to re-think my care programme in the light of this incident and my latest research on Albizia hardiness.

A surviving Albizia julibrissin f. rosea (green-leaved), securely wrapped up.

I can’t seem to find a picture of my fallen ‘Summer Chocolate’ Albizia in flower at the moment. I’ve GOT TO have one somewhere. In the meantime, this was my green-leaved Albizia Julibrissin f. rosea in August 2019. Fascinating!