Mimosa herald the arrival of a new spring in Istanbul

The flowering mimosa tree shouldn’t be blooming this month; that should be next month. But its yellow glory is already the harbinger of spring in Istanbul. In spite of the fact that it grows easily, it has only recently become popular if the fact that there are quite a few hotels and pensions in Turkey with that name have sprung up.

The lack of mimosa’s depiction in Ottoman miniatures and tiles is most likely due to the very delicateness of the flowers. No matter how good the artist may have been, it would have been very difficult at best to reproduce that delicateness. The flowers of the mimosa tree grow from the leaf in several fluffy balls on short stems. Each ball consists of hundreds of filaments giving rise to its description as a pompom. Mimosa just simply grows by itself with little effort. It became wildly popular in the 1990s when the gypsies who sell flowers in Istanbul’s Taksim area would break off sprigs and offer them to customers. Since people were setting up their own homes and turning their attention to decorating them or having gardens, they became interested in this flowering tree and began asking for it. But it basically didn’t move outside of Istanbul and other major cities at first but now people are planting them around the country.

Mimosa as a word is derived from the Greek word for ’mimic’ (in Turkish, mimoza) and is thought to refer to the interesting behavior of the plant version whose leaves close up when touched with a hand only to open up a half hour or so later, hence its association with sensitivity. The leaves on the mimosa however close up when darkness falls.

Consider that mimosa has been classified and reclassified any number of times while the name is generally used by laymen rather interchangeably with acacia (akasya in Turkish) although they aren’t directly related. The resemblance comes from the fuzzy flowers that appear. As a generality one can say that the acacia tree has white to pinkish flowers while mimosa is yellow.

The tree is native to Asia and Africa and reached as far west as Iran where it is often referred to as Persia’s silk tree. The genus Albizia julibrissin is named after the Italian nobleman Filippo del Albizzi, who introduced it to Europe in the mid-18th century, and it is sometimes incorrectly spelled Albizzia. The specific name julibrissin is a corruption of the Persian word gul-i abrisham which means "silk flower" (from gul "flower" + abrisham "silk").

The mimosa or acacia tree is easy to grow and tolerant of drought and pollution. It didn’t reach the Americas until the 17th century when immigrants brought along seeds to plant. The seeds are interesting in that they can lie dormant for many years allowing ample opportunity for their scattering. Once the seed opens, its sprouts immediately appear so if you don’t want zillions of other trees around the one you already have, it’s best to cut the sprout off. You can as well prune the tree every year after the flowering season is offer. It is very tolerant.

Why mimosa is known among the Turkish people as kustumotu (the throw-up herb) is rather obscure and attempts have been made to change the name; however, it is known for its medicinal qualities thanks to the Chinese. Among them it is considered a powerful plant that acts quickly to lift moods for certain types of depression and anxiety. Called He Huan in Chinese, it is supposed to enter the heart and liver channels and has sedating and spirit-calming properties especially for anyone experiencing a profound heartbreaking loss.

Use of acacia trees in Ottoman palace gardens

Sources from the Ottoman period mention the use of acacia trees in palace gardens but as part of a number of flowering trees that were planted to provide color and scent. The Ottomans loved flowers and flowering trees and these were an integral part of their lives in poetry, ceramics and miniatures. Prof. Dr. Nurhan Atasoy in her book "Hasbahce" refers to M. Melling who worked for the sister of Sultan Selim III at the end of the 18th century.

As an architect he was able to observe what the various palace gardens were like and described one of them as a labyrinth of lilac, acacia and rose trees. He called it a Iranian type of garden, if anything emphasizing the difference between a Middle Eastern garden and those of the carefully planned gardens in western Europe.

As one would expect, the eminent people who were attached to the Ottoman court included acacias in their own gardens that appeared to western eyes rather chaotic. Sabancı University’s Sakıp Sabancı Museum, or SSM, has chosen to declare a mimosa season because of the beautifully flowering mimosa trees on the grounds of the museum. Even though the weather has been rather rainy, the yellow blossoms of the trees stand out.

The Sabancı Museum’s garden consists of nearly 110 different varieties of plants that blossom every season of the year so that there continually is color and scent. Usually people go directly to the museum for one of its extraordinary exhibitions, the latest of which was the Salvadore Dali show that attracted thousands. Right now the museum is in between exhibitions but expects to open a new one in the middle of April.

In any case if you decide to visit, there are the collections that are on permanent display such as the painting and calligraphy collections the furniture and 18th and 19th century decorative arts collection that belonged to the Sabancı family who lived in the mansion before turning it over to Sabancı University as a museum. As you admire the mimosa, you might also want to observe the archaeological and stone works that are in the garden.

A renown Italian landscape designer, Ermanno Casasco, was put in charge of fashioning a garden around the Sabancı Museum. Born in 1944, Casasco studied industrial chemistry, before studying landscaping. Working out of his studio in Milan, he has taken on commissions from Naples to San Francisco and Tangiers to Istanbul. He has taken the lead in a number of notable projects such as that at Negombo on the Italian island of Ischia where he created a design that integrated thermal baths with a vast botanical garden. His creation has been called poetic.

In Turkey, he has worked at Kalkim, a small town in northeastern Anatolia, in Ortakoy and most notably at the Sabancı Museum. At the latter, Casaco chose plants that would especially bloom in spring and would provide pleasant scents at different times of the year, hence the mimosa.

The grounds at Sabancı Museum are a pleasant way to spend some time and hopefully the weather will soon be much better for enjoying them.