Those of you who followed the development of the garden saga will know that last year I planted a mimosa at the back of the patio to try and shield me from Mr U’s garages – and it has been growing with GREAT vim and vigour ever since. It has three stems or trunks and I have already had to prune out the top of the the centre one to encourage it to bush out. I guess the main trunk is now nearly 20 foot high, the second one the the left a bit lower and the third one to the right is leaning along the wall – which is attractive but it does need some support.
I realised about a month ago that all three were actually leaning far too far over the patio and needed to be persuaded to stand more upright. Initially I thought of screwing some big hooks to the wall and tying the tree back to the wall. But as you may remember the wall at that point is pretty old, a lot of the cement has fallen out and I am not sure how robust it actually is. Would tying the tree back onto it just result in the whole lot coming crashing down?
Then inspiration struck. I already had a couple of steel reinforcing bars left behind by the builders – you know those quite thin but extremely strong ones that builders use for……. Well I am not sure quite what they use them for but they are always to be found lying around building sites. If I could drop some of those down on the far side of the wall and just tuck them into the ground I could tie the tree back to them. This would enable me to pull the tree upright but put very little strain on the wall. However, I only had 2 x 2 metre long bars and needed 3 metre ones to stretch down to the bottom on the far side of the wall.
Step forward the Builder Depot in New Southgate.
What a place!!! I think it must cover about 2 acres of ground and has EVERYTHING in every size, every shape and every colour that any builder could ever want. I could happily have spent hours there. It must have taken me a good five minutes just to walk to the yard at the back where 10mm, 12mm, 15mm, 18mm and 20mm steel bars in 1 metre, 2 metre and 3 metre lengths were stacked by the hundred. Anyhow, home I came with 3 x 3 metre long 12mm bars which were just long enough to reach the ground on the far side of the wall but sit 50cm proud of the top of the wall so I had something to tie my tree on to. But with what?
I was messing around with various bits of string and rope when inspiration struck again. Luggage straps. Strong, adjustable, wide so they would not cut into the trunk. What better?
I only had fluorescent green ones to work with but the principle was perfect and Amazon soon provided some black ones which melted into the background and all but disappeared. Meanwhile all three branches were now reaching for the sky at the right angle. I was extremely pleased with my efforts.
But then came the snows.
Given that mimosas are meant to like hot dry climates, my tree seemed to have been surprisingly unfazed either by the snow or the subsequent freeze. However, it was not unfazed by the very strong winds we had over the last few days. The third low hanging branch pulled its rather weedy support away from the wall and the whole lot knocked over the table underneath it and shattered the pots that were sitting on the table.
It was only when I was trying to sort out this mess that I realised that the left hand trunk had been so weighed down by its load of snow that, being both young and extremely flexible, it had folded itself over the wall and was now hanging down on the far side of the wall almost touching the ground. Argh……
An emergency trip to New Southgate for three more steel supports – another 6 luggage straps from Amazon….
A great deal of gentle pulling and pushing and the bowed branch gradually rose up – not back to the vertical, but it is at least now at a 60 degree angle rather than hanging totally upside down. I hope that daily adjustments of the tension on the luggage straps might eventually get it almost upright.
Meanwhile, the right hand branch is now safely braced between the wall and two versions of my steel uprights.
Time will tell……
The changing face of Hampstead Heath
I planted a Mimosa tree in my garden about 4 years ago, but I planted mine about 3ft away from my fence. i have been surprised how mine has grown and spread. The trunk is now very thick and the branches can spread wherever they want to. It only started flowering a little last year and this year it had!! masses of flower buds, but this continual wind and heavy rain has knocked a lot of the leaves and flowers off. Hopefully it will recover again, as it is such a lovely tree, weather permitting!!!
I’m suspecting that you might have been wise to plant yours further from the fence and give it a bit more space, Rettie – but I didnlt really have that luxury. Yours sounds wonderful – I do hope our inclement weather will not have damged it too badly.