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Great picture! There is a small house right in "downtown" Old Town, Florida--really just a crossroads--that has a row of these plants growing along the county road--they are truly spectacular in full bloom and in mass. A friend stopped by and got some pods with "beans" inside from the owners, so I hope to grow some next year.
Was given seed for this plant and did get it to germinate but it has hardly(4 of them) grown and in fact look terrible. Could someone tell me what requirements are needed for this plant (Red Bird of Paridise. Pride of Barbados)I received the seeds from a greenhouse in Louisiana
I grew it from seed, and neglected it horribly when I had health problems. It survived quite well inside, but didn't grow fast. Then I repotted it and put it outside in full sun. In Texas, that's a lot of sun. There are many growing right at the edge of the sidewalks in this area, so I would say heat is good. It does die back every year here, but returns and grows as much as 7' in a season. I would suggest you give it plenty of sun and water and see if it improves. It is well worth any effort necessary to help it thrive.
Yes, you can find them at just about most nurseries here in SoCal. If you are in the Inland Empire, drive over to Palm Springs. Just about every nursery there carries them.
The only problem here in SoCal is that invariably almost all nurseries carry only the Sonoran variety of Caesalpinia pulcherrima. It has smaller leaves and they are reddish tinged. It also has smaller, more frequent, more "hair-like" thorns. It tolerates drought better and I suspect that it is a wee bit hardier than the one more commonly seen in Florida.
I have the Sonoran variety on the cul-de-sac. It has been rather slow growing for me and has bloomed modestly the last two years. Last fall I acquired a couple of small more common variety on eBay. So far they haven't done anything, but they did survive the winter fine.
LOL I saw this thread pop up and I was so jealous that other folks had blooms already and I didn't! I was relieved to see the date on the photo. I just need a little patience. Maybe a lot of patience with the "twigs" I planted a few weeks ago!
I've noticed that they don't show up in the stores until they're blooming around town - which sparks a demand for them.
