PlantFiles: Brazilian Rose Wood, Green Ebony
Jacaranda mimosifolia

Please help? I am moving and my two y/o tree must come w/ me or be butchered by the landlord. We're still at risk for frost until late March. How can I safely transplant? How deep are the roots on a 12' tree? I started this tree from seed and it has grown so fast in such horrible silica-sandy soil. Thanks in advance.

ok, so this is truly a beautiful tree when in bloom but it is extremely messy and anything below or within wind range of its dropping flowers will become stained and dirty very quickly.

But if you can find a good place for it away from patios, driveways, or anything else you dont want to have to clean up give it a try....be sure your area is warm enough without any threat of frost which will usually kill it no matter what its' age.

A beautiful tree but messy and doesnt take cold....

Beautiful BUT - it is a nightmare for those people who are allergic to it. During its whole flowering season my mother suffers horribly from some of the worst hay fever symptoms I've ever seen, in spite of taking prescribed medications. She is 80, with an already weakened heart, and I swear it will be this tree that kills her on top of the heart condition. I know several others in this situation as well, so although beautiful, I'm all for declaring it a noxious weed in urban areas. There are other beautiful trees we can plant instead.

I think a lot of Australians have grown up to believe the Jacaranda was a native. The name has a very indigenous sound. I was quite shocked when I learned otherwise; I had two in the street and one in the back yard. We had a buffalo lawn and the tree, if left to itself would cascade almost to the ground. the bright green lawn was literally covered in a carpet of Blue-Mauve in November. It does not snow in Sydney, but the colder the winter, the earlier it would bloom. So beautiful. Watch out for bees foraging on the ground, the lazy buggers get out of flying into the tree and struggling into the flower, by using the hole in the base left when the flower falls off the tree!

Pruning tip: DON'T! Only cut off dead branch tips to improve it's appearance. Storm damage or heavy pruning causes enormous heavy branches to shoot for the sky and distort its normally cascading foliage with ugly "witch brooms". You can only try to tip prune these as they grow to try and make them spread.

This tree lines the streets of Johannesburg & Pretoria,( South Africa ) so much so that the other name for Pretoria was "The Jacaranda City ".
Unfortunately it is now regarded as a invasive invader and may no longer be propagated in South Africa.
The seeds are easily distributed by wind & water.

Jacaranda is a very common tree here in San Diego, but beautiful nonetheless. My reason for the neutral rating is as others have pointed out, it sheds like crazy! I have two of these growing monsters on east and west corners of the front lawn planted by neighbors. All of their debris falls onto my property (leaves, seeds, twigs) and seems nearly impossible to maintain. The other challenge is the size. These trees get to 40ft+ with equal spread and really have little business planted on smaller lots. It seems like the more you trim them the more they grow, literally returning whatever lost height within the same season. They belong on a large 1/4 acre + lot or in a park where they can spread without the nuisance. If you have a large downward sloping front yard where the Jacaranda won’t overshadow the house, I say go for it. If your lot is not large (< 10k sf), you might consider a smaller tree.

Planted in ground 2nd year, from seed, dormant over winter. Coming back after 26 degree temps.

I grew this tree from seeds purchased about 15 yrs ago through Thompson&Morgan's catalog. Very easy to germinate and grow here in south FL. Can't recall exactly, but think it bloomed in about 7 yrs. Hurricane 'Charlie' in 2004 nearly killed it but we pulled it back up and staked it. It's still bent a bit, but blooms faithfully each year, although wish it bloomed longer. I started two more about 5 years ago that haven't bloomed yet. Now I noticed the pods for the first time, lol...and have waited till they are finally brown and opening in hopes to start some more for friends. Even when not in bloom, the delicate lacy leaves are beautiful.

I don't have this, but it is my favourite. Each year, the joy I get when it blooms (usually Feb/March) knows no bounds. There are many trees of this in our work place which has a good green cover. It is also called as 'Blue Jacaranda'. I have shown positive because it does not give too much trouble at all with its dry leaves or dead flowers or seed pods.

A lovely tree that usually does not grow straight unless it has lots of room around it. A stand alone mature tree in full bloom can take your breath away. I have an avenue planted adjacent to my swimming pool--sheds a lot of leaves into the pool requiring extra maintenance.

Alternate planting with the yellow flowering cassia fistula ('amaltaas') and red flowers of gulmohar (delonix regia) and purple or pink lagerstromia (pride of india) makes an amazing color combination as they also bloom around the same time in summers.

My Jacaranda "shrub" has double in size in 5 months; is full and beautiful, altho immature. Does anyone know if I should dig it out of ground and winterize in garage ? I live north of Houston, near Conroe.

We have many of these trees in my area (Ventura / Ojai Valley / Santa Barbara). Sometimes, they are used in landscaping around shopping malls. A relative in Santa Barbara had one in her front yard, and now one of my neighbors has one that towers over his house. I have started a young one in a pot.

The foliage is very feathery and the blossoms are delightful ruffly purple flowers. I consider it to be a charming addition to any landscape. The colorful blooms have a lot of cheerful personality.

That tree was made for me. So beautiful in that purple bloom.
Wish my yard could handle one. BooHoo.

The tree is almost an evergreen in my area, losing its leaves just as the new foliage arrives. The blooms are very showy and beautiful. On the down side, it is messy and hard to clean off of the concrete driveway. In addition, the limbs are brittle and often break during strong winds.

I was in Los Angeles, California earlier this week for meetings. I had never seen these trees in bloom before, but WOW! They were all very magnificent. We were in Pasadena, Alhambra, and Beverly Hills.

These trees were exploding with color and beautiful flowers. The fallen flowers on the sidewalk were still very vibrant with color. This has me wondering if I could get away with one...

Since we put our incoming utility lines underground we had the room to include a Jacaranda on the north side just east of our Royal Poinciana. What a colorful show these two put on in the spring and summer. Both drop flowers, leaflettes and leaf stalks, but the colors and shade make them worth the minor inconvicnce. The shade from this tree is not so restrictive so growing underneath it will be easy. There are several in the neighborhood and almost all of them have nice plantings under the tree. Ours is just about 15 feet tall and we love it.

The first time I saw this tree was in a college I attended back in Huntington Beach, California. It makes a handsome specimen tree when planted alone as they did in that college. It must have been 50 feet tall and just as wide. The fine textured leaves are graceful and resembles ferns. Every year in spring, the whole tree bloomed pruple. The bloom was especially beautiful when all the leaves were gone. I did not notice how widely planted these trees were until they bloomed. One thing I did notice was the shedding of both leaves and flowers. The decaying leaves on the ground are messy and produces a musky odor that can be offensive to some. The disk shape seed pods are woody and flat(some with wavy edge) are about 2"-3" in diameter. They start out green then turing brown as they mature. Some people use the dry seed pods in floral arangements.
This is one of my favorite trees and I tried to plant it here in Henderson, Nevada where the temperature is more extreme. Young Jac, as I like to call my young jacaranda tree, has been planted for two seasons now. It seem to take the heat very well, even up to 115 degrees F, provided I give it enough water. It has survived the cold fairly well also, and only received tip damaged at 28 degrees. To be safe, we wrapped the tree with burlap when the air dips below 32 degrees. Older established trees can take temperatures below 25 degrees.
Trent the cacti_lover

Maybe I have never noticed a mess from my tree because it is out in the yard. It is such a beauty I would be willing to have a mess. Looking at it through my window when blooms are falling, I can see it as standing in water. It is magnificent! But on a sad note, while very drought tolerant as opposed to the info above, it cannot stand flooding very long. My tree has survived drought conditions when the grass has died out of the yard and Florida became a desert. But this past year when hurricanes and violent thunderstorms had us flooded for weeks, the younger tree died.

Definitely a lovely tree in bloom especially if seen in a group. Pretty messy though if you want a tidy lawn. They are very drought tolerant trees and are planted a lot throughout Israel for this reason.

This is a beautiful and very hardy tree in the desert southwest. It will tolorate extremely high temps with little effect on the tree. The down side of this tree is it's sheding habits. The very small leaves and sheding habits make it very undesirable for areas near water features. Swimming pools, fountains and the like are impacted by the thousands if not millions of these tiny leaves landing in the water. From very early spring, the leaves start to shed. Then the flowering season begins and the drop of flowers begins. After flowering, a drop of stems (the flower stems) 10 to 12 inches in length starts and continues all summer long. A beautiful tree but a very messy one!!!!!

These plants are very common parkway/street trees in a nearby city in which I used to live. They're striking in bloom, but they are messy. My one tip for Jacarandas: if you or a neighbor has one, don't park anywhere near it (or get a car cover) when it's in bloom. The blooms exude a very sticky nectar-like substance that takes some effort to wash off. It also stains concrete.

They are in full bloom at this time in Hawaii! Absolutely lovely. I don't have one in my yard, but there are some just 4-5 miles down the road and they do seem to do well almost anywhere on this island...from the highest urban elevations levels in Waimea, down to sea level in Hilo and Kona.

These trees are grown as street trees in some Australian cities and an avenue in flower is an amazing sight.In Sydney they flower prolifically in November. Further South in Melbourne they are more variable and flower round Christmas, so I am surprised to see they can grow in Zones below 10.

If old wood is cut into the buds below it will sprout and grow vertically which can look awkward, so they are better planted well away from wires etc. They are also surface rooters and quite greedy feeders so a rich mulch will work wonders.

This tree is a favorite. People rarely notice it, though, because of Flamboyant Trees that are the most common composite-leaved tree around, and they look similar at first sight. I have a Jacaranda in my street, but no one else seems to know it.

The bluish-purple flowers are great. And it grows fast and is easy to be propagated from seeds. I gathered some seeds once, planted them in organic soil, and in no time I had several plantlets. I live in ana apartment, so I am figthing against the circunstances to keep my surviving plant alive until I move to our new house. And it's doing quite well.

This tree in bloom is a magnificent sight to see!

The small blooms cover the tree in a fuzzy blanket of light blue-violet. The ground beneath these trees when they are in bloom is a carpet of the same light blue-violet.

The leavea are fronds in the same form as mimosa trees, a smaller relative. Usually the leaves do not emerge until the tree finishes blooming, but occasionally both will be present at the same time.

In the Northern hemisphere, these are at the height of their bloomtime around Mother's Day (the few weeks before and after May 10th).

Extremly beautiful and graceful tree.

Spectacular spring flowering deciduous tree. Usually blue flowers, but white also available ("White Christmas" or "Alba"), plus variegated foliage varieties. Lacy green foliage turns yellow in autumn.
Tip: pruning a jacaranda distorts the shape of the tree.
Good points: stunning flowers, excellent shade
Downside: messy near pools.
Genus of 30 - 45 species. Popular as an ornamental or shade tree. Allow ample space for the tree to develop. Only suitable for a large garden. One of the loveliest sights in Spring with the fallen flowers forming a blue "carpet" under the tree. The foliage is composed of many small, narrow leaflets. The leaves only create a gentle, filtered shade . Terminal panicles of tubular, narrowly bell-shaped flowers are borne from September to October on leafless branches.

If the tree is given too much water, the leaves appear first, somewhat spoiling the startling effect of the flowers. The flowers are followed by woody, disc-shaped seed pods. Grow in fertile, moist, but well-drained soil. Happiest in the warmer Summer rainfall regions. In colder areas, protect against frost for the first few years. It flowers best after a dry Winter. Wind-resistant. The tree only drops its leaves in late Winter, often turning a rich yellow in cooler areas. Adapts well to varying conditions. Propagate by rooting semi-ripe cuttings with bottom heat in Summer. Jacarandas seed readily, grow fast and transplant easily.

It generally blooms before the foliage appears. This is zone 10b.

Jacarandas grown as (house plants) do not produce flowers. As they age,they lose some of their lower leaves and much of their beauty. When this happens,replace them with young seedlings.

Light; Give bright light and at least 3hrs. a day of direct sunlight.

Propagation; Jacarandas are best raised from seed. Soak seed overnight,then plant in a 2 1/2 to 3-inch pot of moistened rooting mixture and stand the pot in bright filtered light,watering only enough to make the mixture barely moist.

Germination should occur within 2 to 3 weeks. When seedling is 6-8 inches high,move into a 4-5-inch pot of the standard potting mixture for adult jacarandas and treat as a mature plant.

Feeding; Apply standard liquid fertilizer every 2 weeks during the active growth period.

Pruning;If a jacaranda becomes too big it can be pruned in spring.