Mimosa trees (Albizia julibrissin), sturdy to U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 6b through 9b, are famous for producing fluffy, shiny, pink blooms. It is due to these flowers that mimosa trees are also called silk trees. Mimosa trees are such prolific seeders that they have become invasive in eastern parts of the United States, where rivers and streams carry seeds long distances. Mimosa trees are well-suited for growth in areas of the U.S. West Coast and aren’t designated as invasive in that area. They might not survive some West Coast places’ salty dirt, however.
Choose a planting area which receives full sunlight and is away from areas of your house and landscape you prefer to keep tidy. Mimosa trees produce seedpods and flowers that produce a mess and need routine cleanup.
Test your property’s soil with a soil test kit. Mimosa trees may adapt to many different soil types, from slightly alkaline to highly acidic dirt, dirt containing some clay, well-draining dirt and wet dirt, but they might not live if implanted in salty soil.
Dig a hole for every mimosa tree, making it no deeper than the root ball and twice as wide as the root ball. This process loosens the dirt for the mimosa trees, giving their roots a opportunity to propagate in the early stages of growth.
Mix sphagnum peat moss with the dirt you dug from the holes in a ratio of 1 part sphagnum peat moss to 4 parts dirt. Sphagnum peat moss will enhance soil drainage and fertility. In addition, it acidifies soil, lowering its alkalinity. Although mimosa trees endure slightly alkaline soil, they likely won’t bear highly alkaline soil, using a pH over 8. Soil pH fell by one unit for each 2 1/2 lbs of sphagnum peat moss applied to each 1 square yard of dirt.
Insert every single mimosa tree into its planting hole, and spread its roots.
Fill each hole with the amended soil, and tamp the dirt gently with a scoop. Don’t allow the soil to pile around a tree greater than its soil level when it had been in its nursery pot or preceding in-ground site.
Water the planting sites intensely to saturate the soil around the tree trunks to a thickness of 1 inch.