Plant ABCs: M is for Mimosa dysocarpa

Next in my series of The ABCs of Plants in My Garden is Velvetpod Mimosa or Mimosa Dysocarpa.

Mimosa?  Isn't mimosa invasive?  Mimosa Dysocarpa is a Texas native plant and is not considered invasive.  Invasive mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) is an asian native brought over in the 18th Century which has escaped cultivation.
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Native Mimosa dysocarpa is deciduous and extremely drought tolerant.  While it likes direct sun and reflected heat, it also does well in part shade.  The photo above is from Ragna's garden this past spring.  Mine is about 8" tall and in the gravel bed next to the garage where it gets mostly sun with late afternoon shade.

Ragna generously shared a rooted cutting from her plant about two years ago.  The gorgeous spring flowers are pink cylindrical brushes.
 

The bright pink flowers fade to pale pink and white.

Mimosa dysocarpa has a shrub-like form which matures at about six feet (1.8m) tall.  The native range is west Texas extending across New Mexico to Arizona and south into Mexico.  It's also called Catclaw or Gatuno for the thorns along the branches.



This special native plant when mature will be a bright spot in the front garden against the stone garage wall.

Ragna's Garden Part Two: Xeriscape Front Yard

My friend Ragna's Texas style cottage garden back yard was the subject for a recent post and her garden has so many unique features that it could not be covered in one posting.  Many of you have commented about how much you enjoyed seeing her back yard garden, this time I'm showcasing the front yard which is xeriscape, San Antonio style.  

Ragna and her husband Bob replaced their lawn with gravel mulch a few years ago.  After fifteen years of water restrictions and the last two years of drought, more and more San Antonians are going with similar low water use alternatives to the traditional lawn.  I personally find these yards are so much prettier and more inspiring than the dead brown lawns they replace.  That's certainly the case with this inviting front yard.

Work in Progress: The Hesperaloes

The issue on my mind today is planting diversity vs single variety plantings.  This post showing changes we have been making to the front yard beds is prompted by inputs from David at The Desert Edge.

Six red flowering yuccas (hesperaloe parviflora) were planted near the garage nearly 20 years ago.  They were definitely pretty when in bloom as shown here in Spring 2010

But the deer often snapped off the blooms and I thought they looked boring much of the year
 

Somewhat like the H-E-B parking lot

Not a bad choice for the local shopping center, but not so good for a color loving gardener like me.  One of my favorite things about San Antonio is how colorful everything is and I enjoy bringing that home.  Definitely time for some changes.

The south facing spot gets maximum sun exposure and plenty of reflected heat so anything here needs to be tough.  In the spring of 2010 we planted gold lantana in front.  Last fall we added Mexican Bird of Paradise (caeselpinia mexicana), Pride of Barbados (caeselpinia pulcherima) and a lantana camara found growing wild nearby

Inspired by the photos of Agave ovatifolia in Pam Penick's blog Digging, we removed the two large hesperaloe in front and installed the agave

A gardening friend shared a native Velvet pod mimosa (Mimosa dyscarpa) which will eventually grow up about six feet against the stone wall.


One of the large red yuccas has been transplanted to the back yard and the others will be divided and planted along side the driveway in the near future. 

 

The early plan was to replace them all until David featured hesperaloe in some of his posts and, combined with the really hot, dry summer of 2011, I began to rethink the plan.  Instead of removing the rest of them this fall, we have divided and relocated them around the bed to fill in the space.  Three of the larger original ones remain in place.  The tree form vitex remains and the Texas Mountain Laurel is kept full and shrub-like in front of the garage window.

As always around here there's more work to do.  Two more gold lantanas will be added in front of the agave.  The old landscaper's border will be pulled out.

The red yucca should bloom again next spring and the agave is growing well and looks good all year while adding interest that was lacking before.  The Mexican Bird of Paradise should take off next year and really bloom.  A more disciplined gardener might have left all the red yucca, but I enjoy seeing the new mix with the agave there whenever I pull into the driveway....and isn't that the purpose of a garden?