In early spring, you suddenly notice how thousands of tiny fluffy suns hang on trees. And they smell fragrant with an incredibly beautiful and dizzy aroma! You walk along the yellow street and think, is there such indescribable beauty in paradise ? Inhaling this blessed aroma, it is easy to see how yellow and sweet the honey from these flowers should be! Natural mimosa honey is one of the few that does not crystallize. Its texture is quite delicate, and the smell is as close as possible to that which we feel from the branches. Therefore, to break away from this beauty is simply impossible. All these solar plexuses of hairy crumbs attract and attract ... So mimosa flowers bloom .
It was a lyrical indent. The beauty of these little yellow fluffs leaves no one indifferent. But we habitually call "mimosa" a flower, which is actually called acacia. Or rather, whitish or silver acacia. However, the wrong name of this plant is so widespread that even notable biologists often call it mimosa.
This is an evergreen tree, quite tall - up to 25 m. It belongs to a rich family of legumes, a subfamily of mimosa trees. Most species have spines. There are about 400 species of this plant. And every year, flower growers create more and more new species. Mimosa is a picky flower. It can grow like a wide bush and like a tree with a spreading chic crown, and can climb and curl on the hedge, like a vine. And it can live on the windowsills of houses. Fluffy flowers consist of many stamens, covering green narrow leaves like a carpet. Flowers, like leaves, vary greatly between species.
Silver acacia, as already mentioned, allows you to grow it indoors. It is only important to ensure regular (but by no means excessive) watering, cool wintering and acidic soil. The mimosa flower propagates by the usual sowing of seeds or by rooting already half-lignified cuttings.
The main feature of the plant is its mobility. The slightest touch on the leaves causes them to fold. And the more intense the touch, the stronger and faster the leaves wilt. Every day at night, they themselves curl up without mechanical influences - gradually the plant “falls asleep”. And in the early morning (or 5-25 minutes after touching) the “sleepy” leaves take their former position. The assumptions of gardeners prove that such active mobility reliably protects the plant from damage and eating by insects. Here is such a mysterious and unusual mimosa.
This flower is rightly considered a rather capricious greenhouse "tenant". This fact is recorded in fiction and in some scientific literature. But practice completely refutes this stereotype. At room conditions, the mimosa remarkably survives. Flowers propagate by sowing seeds in the spring month of March. In order to better germinate, they are recommended to be scalded with boiling water, putting, for example, in a fine strainer for a regular teapot. The best embedment depth of these seeds is 0.7-1 cm, and the substrate is nutritious, loose. Young plants try to dive into separate pots with a similar filling and keep in a bright warm place, watering regularly and also constantly, following the schedule, spraying them with settled warm water. With age, unfortunately, mimosa loses its attractive decorativeness, because it is either severely pruned or grown as a simple annual, receiving annually from seeds.
Mimosa is a flower that inspires poets, artists and perfumers. All of them devote their creations to this sweet and sunny flower. And not in vain - the miracle of nature deserves this.