Gardening Mystery. Can you solve it?

[FSogol]

Had a small mimosa tree in the side yard. It was growing twisted because of some big pines, so we dug it up and planted it by the garage.

We must have left a piece of the root behind, because another mimosa came up in the same spot. The pines trees were removed and the new mimosa stayed.

Two years later they are both about 20 feet tall. The one in the side yard has green leaves and the one by the garage has reddish colored trees. Both trees get the same amount of sunlight and water. The redder tree gets more flowers in the spring.

What gives? Why isn't it green? Any theories?

[Chipper Chat]

1. Was the original tree grafted onto a local root stock?

Then the tree that grew from the roots may be the original plant. Just a guess.

[FSogol]

6. No, it came up on its own. n/t

[LakeArenal]

16. That's what I think as well.

Very common to graft to much more successful root.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. Maybe different ph in the two locations? Could be some chemical spill by the garage in the past?

I don't know, I'm just throwing things out there.

[FSogol]

10. I thought about soil. Since we have a lot of clay, whenever I plant something,

I take out a larger hole and replace it with good soil and stuff from the compost pile.

[Wellstone ruled]

17. Depending on how close the tree is to the

Garage foundation,this could be your issue. If memory works. The leaching of the lime from the cement will cause your tree to produce different leaf coloring. Sounds like it is a PH soil issue. Learned the hard way with Roses. Have to replace one of ours this winter due to a similiar issue. Our natural soil has a mega lime (Caleche Cement ) content. Going to dig this Rose out and widen the Hole and dig it deeper and back fill with Garden Soil from the Green House.

[2naSalit]

18. or perhaps

the soil composition from the pine trees of the past, they have a tendency to change the ph in soil and make it hard for other plants to grow at their feet.

[tonyt53]

3. Mowed grass for people when I was a kid. You never have one mimosa - you have gazillions.

I've seen them be different colors along the highways (they grow like weeds) and they can be different colors. Be glad you only have two.

[enough]

8. This is the answer. Mimosas spread very easily from seed. They're considered to be

invasive plants in some areas. Not unusual from different trees grown from seed of the same tree to have variations in color, etc.

[FSogol]

14. Yeah, it could be a different mimosa seed, but big coincidence that it came up in the exact spot. n/

[dameatball]

4. My guess would be it has something to do with what materials your garage is made of.

Or if there are any other materials underneath the garage that would change the soil chemistry.

[lamsmy]

5. It's the pines

I'm not an expert by any means, but my sister removed a pine from her yard and all the groundcover and nearby shrubs died. Apparently cutting the roots results in harmful toxins being released. It's a self defense mechanism of sorts for pine forests.

[FSogol]

12. Probably most likely. What should I add to counteract? n/t

[Siwsan]

7. Just a guess but maybe the pine tree affected the chemical content of the soil?

[TreasonousBastard]

9. Could the tree you dug up have been grafted? If so, the roots could easily make a different tree.

[vlyons]

11. I would suspect that the red one is taking up iron.

What color is the soil? Is it red? Is there something rusty, an old pipe, nails, etc in the soil?

[FSogol]

13. I've found the occasional brick piece, but not much else. The clay is red. n/t

[GeorgeGist]

15. Pine trees tend to produce acid soil; from breakdown of dropped needles I believe.

So I would guess that the difference might reflect a ph difference.