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.