Garden Planner & Almanac The Cottage Garden Companion
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Silk Tree

Albizia julibrissin

Warmth and shelter come before every other consideration — a cold, open site is where this one fails.

Light Full sun and genuine warmth, in a site with shelter.
Water Regular water for the first 2–3 years; drought stops mattering after that.
Height 9 m
Spread 26 ft 3 in
Spacing 800 cm

Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing
26 ft 3 in
In-row spacing
26 ft 3 in
Between rows
32 ft 10 in
Square-foot density
Not suited to SFG

Growing

Type
Tree · Perennial
Botanical family
Mixed / other
Sunlight
Full sun and genuine warmth, in a site with shelter.
Watering
Regular water for the first 2–3 years; drought stops mattering after that.
Feeding
A light balanced feed in spring, and nothing high in nitrogen.
Frost tolerant
Yes
Flowering
June
Pruning
Late winter and no other time, while it is fully dormant.

Through the year

  • Apr–Jun Bud Break
  • Jun–Aug Flowering
  • Aug–Nov Fruiting
  • Nov–Dec Dormancy
  • Jan–Apr Dormancy

Pests & problems

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant

  • Bats Chiroptera
    Hunts Fall webworm

    A single bat takes hundreds of moths and mosquitoes in a night, and the moths are the parents of your cutworms, corn earworms and hornworms. Put up a bat box on a warm south wall, leave a night-scented corner unlit, and never spray after dark.

    Plant nearby Evening PrimroseHoneysuckleNicotianaSummer Jasmine
  • Hoverfly Syrphidae
    Hunts Scale insects

    Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.

    Plant nearby CalendulaChamomileFennelFrench marigoldPhaceliaSweet alyssum
  • Ladybird (lady beetle) Coccinellidae
    Hunts Scale insects

    The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.

    Plant nearby CalendulaCilantroCosmosDillFennelYarrow
  • Tachinid fly Tachinidae
    Hunts Fall webworm

    Bristly, house-fly-lookalike parasitoids that lay eggs on caterpillars, beetle grubs, and earwigs — the maggot consumes the host from within. Adults sip nectar from shallow umbels and daisies.

    Plant nearby CilantroDillFeverfewParsleySweet alyssum

The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com