Hi Sidpook,

Nice! Aren't they beautiful? That is why I will make the nursery rich.....
Would it be possible to have a pic on the site, too? I just do not know if I dared to put it into teh SE exposure, but you may have half shade there; that is why it would be great to see it.

Thanks for posting!!!
Rob

Rob,
Are you starting a nursery? If so good for you man, best of luck too! I must of missed that in the post when I just jumped into it.

Bill

Hi Bill,

No, unfortunately, I am not starting a nursery, being an accountant... But I am a great fan of exotics, that was my masters thesis as a horticulturist. So I am starting to develop an Asian garden in one part of my garden, I am building an exotic gartden in the front section and in the third, I am planning something like a native theme. In the Asian garden, I am going to plant real tea plants (C. sinensis var. sinensis) and some light shade giving crape myrtles and Cornus kousa. Once these get established, I am going to put some more Camellias in front of these guys, into the developed partial shade. It is so nice to see some results on Camellias in these zones in this mail stream, eh!!!!!!

Bill, your garden is just one wonder; it deserves a pilgrimage in itself.

Regards,
Rob

Thanks Rob!

I looked on the web site of the camellia forest in NC and almost chocked my self. I'll see what I can come up with for hardy ones, not that you live anywhere near me but it might be worth the trip. I'll find them wholesale somewhere, they are beautiful and tougher then people think as you know.

Your plans for building a asian garden sound terrific, I really look forward to seeing the pictures down the road.

Do you think you could pull off a silk tree up there? They do really well here, another I would like to carry. I'll look into that too 😀

Bill

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your nice words. Imagine, I just discovered a silk tree in the neighbourhood. It is about 10 years old, 3 m high. It has just leaved out 2 days ago, that is how I recognized it. I do not know yet if it will be able to push out flowers, too, though.... Tough guy, eh?

Rob

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your nice words. Imagine, I just discovered a silk tree in the neighbourhood. It is about 10 years old, 3 m high. It has just leaved out 2 days ago, that is how I recognized it. I do not know yet if it will be able to push out flowers, too, though.... Tough guy, eh?

Rob

Hi Rob,
I'll get some pics of my camelia soon up on here. Ijust cut a lot off of it actually this week. It was cutting off my path to the fishpond. 😯
And by silk tree do you mean what we call mimosa trees here or a silk floss tree???
Thanks
mike

Hello Robretti,

Here is one pic of the camelia on the side of the house: It is facing 98 degrees east to be exact, gets morning sun in spring summer and is totally shielded from winds....I'll get some more in bloom later in the season.

Hi Sidpook,

Beautiful!!!! And how it is shooting out, just lovely, you convinced me!

As for the silk tree, it is the Albizia julibrissin. Its story is amazing. It started as a very tender greenhouse plant and due to homwowners trying their luck (or being forgetful), they started to emerge as year-round elements of gardens. I thought that they were zone 7 plants, so you can imagine what pleasure it gave me to see a nice tree in the neighbourhood...

Rob

Hi Sidpook,

Beautiful!!!! And how it is shooting out, just lovely, you convinced me!

As for the silk tree, it is the Albizia julibrissin. Its story is amazing. It started as a very tender greenhouse plant and due to homwowners trying their luck (or being forgetful), they started to emerge as year-round elements of gardens. I thought that they were zone 7 plants, so you can imagine what pleasure it gave me to see a nice tree in the neighbourhood...

Rob

Nice! So then I do think it is the mimosa tree we have all over the place here. The seeds drop and they shoot up everywhere. i just cut one down in my back yard behind the barn and the shoots are still coming up fromthe ground. They grow sooooo quickly too....They smell really fragrant in summer also!

Hi Sidpook,

Beautiful!!!! And how it is shooting out, just lovely, you convinced me!

As for the silk tree, it is the Albizia julibrissin. Its story is amazing. It started as a very tender greenhouse plant and due to homwowners trying their luck (or being forgetful), they started to emerge as year-round elements of gardens. I thought that they were zone 7 plants, so you can imagine what pleasure it gave me to see a nice tree in the neighbourhood...

Rob

Nice! So then I do think it is the mimosa tree we have all over the place here. The seeds drop and they shoot up everywhere. i just cut one down in my back yard behind the barn and the shoots are still coming up fromthe ground. They grow sooooo quickly too....They smell really fragrant in summer also!

Here is a pic of a Mimosa tree like a phoenix rising out of the ashes....They are invincible.....and grow so fast!!!
It is on the sid eof my barn behind the house.

Hi Mike,

Sturdy plant, no question. Interestingly, it is called mimosa, though this term is rather used for the Acacia species... We know this from teh English plant names like berries, cedars, etc... I'd love to have at least one Acacia in the garden, but currently I think it is too much of a wish; they are at least zone 8 or 9 plants. I am trying with some Eucalyptuses, though.... My camera will be live next week and will make a couple of pics on my projects.

Question: do you get even to the fruiting stage with the Albizia or you have flowers that bloom off and/ or freeze off?

Thanks,
Rob

Hi Mike,

Sturdy plant, no question. Interestingly, it is called mimosa, though this term is rather used for the Acacia species... We know this from teh English plant names like berries, cedars, etc... I'd love to have at least one Acacia in the garden, but currently I think it is too much of a wish; they are at least zone 8 or 9 plants. I am trying with some Eucalyptuses, though.... My camera will be live next week and will make a couple of pics on my projects.

Question: do you get even to the fruiting stage with the Albizia or you have flowers that bloom off and/ or freeze off?

Thanks,
Rob

Yes, we do get large clusters of very sweet smelling flowers. They smell so good around july usually they cover the trees. the birds scatter the seeds everywhere and they pop up the next spring under all my ivy and vinca around the house. Can't wait to see some pics.

Thanks, Mike. Again, a plant proving that most writers were too cautious in estimating its hardiness.....
if is grows so well there, it might grow out of its space. I saw a row of this Albizia in Russia (in Sochi) it was so nice being pruned to a small umbrella shape, which is its natural shape, but in a couple sizes larger...

Rob

Thanks, Mike. Again, a plant proving that most writers were too cautious in estimating its hardiness.....
if is grows so well there, it might grow out of its space. I saw a row of this Albizia in Russia (in Sochi) it was so nice being pruned to a small umbrella shape, which is its natural shape, but in a couple sizes larger...

Rob

Very interesting. Do they grow well by you though in Ontario? It seems pretty cold along the lake there....I could send you some seeds form my trees and see if they take up there. It does get pretty cold here in the winter so they'd probably be used to the cold.

Mike,

Very kind of you, but I need to wait a bit 🙁 The best location for this tree would be in my front garden (SW exposure), where I have a 30 year old Japanese Aralia tree. It has started to crack and loose bits of branches, but it is still going to take a couple of years before it kicks the bucket. Local regulations again: I have to wait for it to be really sick and then I can talk to an arborist for a professional evaluation and only after that can I get help in removing the tree from my garden and can use the space for raising a nice umbrella shaped Albizia. Oaville is determined to protect trees; its motto is " to be the best livable town in Canada" , so the marketing is there and the principles are really nice, but sometimes they go too far....

Sorry for crying on your shoulder, Mike, but I wanted to describe the situation, just to show the multilateral fights we sometimes need to take......

Thanks again Mike for the offer, though!!!!!
Rob