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Hi! Wondered if you had some insight on how to start Royal
Poinciana seeds? Received some from Isreal and didn't know how to proceed. Have heard of putting them in boiling water, turning pot off and leaving for a few minutes then soaking over night but wanted to see if you had any other ideas. Supposedly hard to propagate. Also, should Santa Barbara be okay for these plants?
Thanks!! Jean
Hi Jean,
I posted your email inquiry here because I prefer to help people on the forums rather than by email.
Royal Poinciana is a tropical tree, and, since you sometimes get frost in Santa Barbara, you would need to protect your seedling from frost and cold while it is an immature tree. Allowing it to remain dry and dormant in a protected area or bringing it inside a greenhouse for the winter would allow it to survive the winter. This means you would need to grow it in a container for several years. When it becomes a mature specimen of around five years or so, then it could be planted in the landscape. There are several very mature specimens that survive the coldest temperatures in Zone 10 in California. There are several threads about this over at the Tropical Forum over at GardenWeb. You might read through those threads if you are interested. They even have some pictures. Here's a link: http://search.gardenweb.com/search/nph-ind.cgi?term=delonix ...
As for the seeds, they germinate easily in warm weather. The soil temperature should be between 75 and 85 degrees. They will germinate in 30-90 days. Soak them in water for 24 hours that starts out hand hot. I usually rely on this web site for seed germination information: http://www.backyardgardener.com/tm.html
Can anyone tell me how to distinguish a young (10 inches tall) Flamboyant tree from a young Honey Locust? Both grow here (Caribbean). Obviously I want it to be a "Flame". How soon are there thorns on the Locust?
