Friday, May 3, 2013

NEMUNOKI - THE SLEEPING TREE


This is the beautiful tree growing up to my kitchen window. I planted it by myself twelve years ago, and it got large and strong now, with a huge crown of arching branches. It is a Persian silk tree, its scientific name is "albizia julibrissin". Its Persian name is "shabkhosb", which means "night sleeper" because its leaflets turn downwards with darkness and rain. In Japanese it is called "nemunoki" and you can read a wonderful post about it here in this blog.




We had heavy hot winds from the desert for some days - this morning my husband and I raked thousands of tiny dry leaves, which have been scattered in the yard and the garden.


The flowers of this tree do not have petals, but clusters of silky stamen thread in pink with a white base. Hummingbirds are busy all day, with their long beaks deep in the blossoms to eat the sweet sap. Our tree blooms all year, but its hight is just now with an abundance of flowers.


Sitting outside near it, I can hear the bees and other insects buzz, and inside the kitchen, while doing the dishes, I watch the hummingbirds. They also build a nest in our tree each year, always smartly out of reach for our cats.


Photos taken by Uri Eshkar and by Oss Vaisband.

7 comments:

Bob Bushell said...

Oh, what an amazing tree, it is so colouring, well done Yael for planting it.

Sinval Santos da Silveira said...

Bom dia!
Adorei o trabalho.
Muito criativo e bonito demais..
Parabens
Sinval

Dies und Das vom Neckarstrand said...

Yael, wundervolle Fotos.
Ich bin immer wieder erstaunt, was für Blumen es dort gibt, die ich nicht kenne. Danke fürs zeigen.
Einen guten Start ins Wochenende wünscht
Irmi

Hilde said...

Loved learning about your tree, Yael :) It's absolutely beautiful, those flowers are gorgeous. What stunning sight when it is in full bloom.

Have a happy weekend.
Hugs :)

zsazsazsu said...

what a pleasure for the eye!

Eva said...

What a lovely sight!

Tomoko said...

How lovely to see your memunoki which you planted 12 years ago by yourself!
I love the fragile of them.
Have a good weekend!
Tomoko