PlantFiles: Royal Poinciana, Flamboyant Tree, Flame Tree, Peacock Flower, Gulmohar
Delonix regia

I have just recently planted a poinciana in my front garden... so too has my son who lives two doors down from me... these trees are everywhere in Queensland and are stunning....I live in Newcastle NSW.... I know of two mature ones in my area which are growing well.... I have always wanted one and have never known any nurseries in my area to sell them, until now...maybe it is global warming....our climate here has changed.....hence my purchase.... my sister has also planted two in her front garden...All our trees are doing well at the moment but we are just starting to come into winter....I suppose they will defoliate as the two established ones do....However, they certainly burst forth when the weather warms up and are truely magnificent....

I live in the Ft. Lauderdale area, and recently planted a royal poinciana in my front yard. Within 45 days it lost every leaf. I also noticed that there were several large mature royals in the neighborhood that have also lost all their leaves, which makes me believe they are dormant.

St. Petersburg, Florida (zone 9b): Good news after a relatively low night of temps. I have a 4 foot tall new plant in the ground. the base is less than an inch thick and thought I would lose it this month. Temps hit a low of 26 degrees and my poinciana isn't showing a bit of damage and in fact, has put forth new leaves in the 3 weeks since. Fingers crossed.

I live in the south of England and managed to grow a Royal Poinciana from a seed pod I brought back from Australia. I did not think I would succeed! It's currently in a pot in my conservatory. It is approximately 4 feet tall at two years.

I put it outside in the hotter summer months (June to September) but dare not risk it outside during the other months as I am not sure whether it will survive the cold. I believe we are a Zone 8.

I planted my royal poincianna tree in the spring of this year. It is presently doing well. The tree has grown from 4 ft to approximately 6 ft. It has spread more horizontally than vertically with three branches which are about 10 inches from the base of the trunk and extend 4-5 ft horizontally. I am not sure whether or not I should prune the two side branches or let them be.

I live in Zephyr Hills, Florida (zone 9) and purchased this tree from a nursery that claimed that it thrives in this zone. I am concerned because it gets down to freezing temps here( high 20's-low 30's). I bought the tree without researching first. I was enamored with the beauty of the tree.

I recently came back from a trip to Puerto Rico, and this beautiful tree was all over the island. Although it was not blooming, its architectural appearance was quite stunning, with an japanese wind swept bonsai look. Its branches extend very far out from the trunk, and the leaves are very delicate looking. One of the homes I visited in aguadilla, contained several trees arranged in such a way, as to stuck an almost mystical view...this has become one of my favorites, known also to the people of P.R. as the Flamboyan tree.
Must be under a large one to truly appreciate this stunner....

When we moved into this house we had two fully grown Royal Poinciana plants on the property. They were planted too close to the utility lines on the east border so we cut them down. I was not able to replant until two years ago when we put our incoming utility lines underground. I purchased mine from a nursery. It was ten feet tall, including the pot. Two years later it's over 25 feet tall and it generates the shade I was looking for to plant non full sun plants (the sun is very strong here.) In this neighborhood about every third house has one. Most are very large, probably in the 40-foot and taller range. Here they bloom from late spring through late fall. When in bloom the neighborhood looks terrific. They drop lots of flowers and in the winter months the tiny leaflets do blow into the pool. One of my neighbors told me in the Philippines they make candy out of the large seed pods. The trees are easy to climb so the grandchildren get a big kick out of them.

I recently uploaded a picture of my young tree beginning its bloom cycle. The pic has an inset showing the beautiful orchid-like flowers.

I acquired some of this seed (looks like a large bean) and now have 12 plants up which are about 5 inches tall. I live in East Texas and I know that they may not live here but I have to try. I am planning on putting them out next week (first of September) in full sun.

I was researching how to grow these magnificient trees and found a website that says that they "usually will not bloom in pots." Also I read that they need regular watering to establish the tree, but once established it blooms best when it undergoes drought through the winter months. I recently went to Antigua, West Indies (incredible place) and I fell in love, not only with the island, but with the flamboyant tree. It was my first time to go out of the USA and my first major vacation ever. I am ruined. I live in Tennessee near Memphis and I have some seeds of this tree and I am going to try and grow one just for fun.

At a traffic roundabout right outside the city walls of Rabat, Morocco, there is a huge flame-tree. The flame tree blooms a little bit after the jacaranda.
The city walls are ochre, and there are roses and some succulents, and a lawn planted between the wall and the sidewalk. Magenta bougainvilla tumbles from the walls. The sky is bright blue, the lavender-blue of the jacaranda, then the orange-red of the flame tree.
With all the wonderful sights in Rabat, it's easy to take that intersection for granted. I never took a photo of it. But it's one visual memory that has stayed with me long since leaving Morocco.

This tree grows very well in Cuba, where I was born, and we called it a flamboyan (from the word flamboyant), which it certainly is when all covered in blooms.

It grows well here in Hawaii also and I look forward to seeing it in full bloom every year.

At one time in our lives, we lived on a small island, just south of Cuba for a couple of years.....the name of the island at the time (before the government changed it to the Isle of Youth) was the Isle of Pines due to the prolific pines that grew all over the little island...

We lived on a piece of property called Casa Mañana, right on the banks of the New Gerona River - near the mouth......
The place must have had at least a dozen Royal Poincianas planted around the yard.....I remember in late afternoons, when the sun was going down, how the light was diffused by the filtering of the sun rays on the trees and how it also reflected on the flame colored petals that carpeted the ground all around the trees and also on the surface of the river........giving the whole yard the feeling of being engulfed in light "friendly" orange flames.....It was absolutely magical.

I live in St. Petersburg, FL, and just got back from a trip to Key West, FL, where these trees are blooming all over the place. Simply beautiful! From the top of the Key West lighthouse, many of the trees could be seen all over town. As fate would have it, I was walking down a street when a large truck passed by, and the top of the truck hit some low-hanging branches of one of these trees, knocking down a couple of seed pods. I've brought them home and am going to try to start some seedlings. I read the previous comment from someone about a former tree in the St. Petersburg area that froze one year, so I'll have to be careful not to let my seedlings/trees freeze (if the seeds sprout!) I am thinking of trying to grow one in a large "patio pot."

I was fortunate to live and work in growing zone 11 several years ago. I could not wait for the middle of June to arrive to see all of the Royal Poinciana's in full bloom!! They were never late or lacked in abudnance in their blooming.

This tree gets into full bloom on late spring/early summer. Larger trees are simply striking, covered with red flowers. Each tree has a unique shape, it never gets boring looking at them, even if they are not blooming

This is a great shade tree, and the branches grow horizontally, sometimes growing downwards, making even older trees actually short, but greatly wide. However, this is a tree that should be kept at a distance from houses, walls, any kind of pavements because of its expansive and superficial roots.

I lived in St. Petersburg, Florida, zone 9b, for ten years, and our neighbors across the street had a beautiful, large Royal Poinciana tree in the center of their front yard, with a circular driveway around it. It was simply a delight to look out at that tree from my living room windows, especially when it was in full bloom. But the tree has a graceful, arching, rather horizontal branching habit with airy leaflets and is quite attractive even when not in bloom.

Although that tree was at least twenty to thirty feet tall, and they could park their cars underneath it, unfortunately we had a very late freeze on March 1st one Spring, and the temperature went down to 18F degrees, and the tree was killed. Their yard never looked the same! They planted a pretty Jacaranda tree, which has purple flowers, and is more hardy, but we all loved that Royal Poinciana, and if I lived in an area where they would survive I would plant lots of them.

This is an extremely fast growing tree in zone 11. It makes a wonderful shade tree and they are used alot in landscaping alongside the highways here in the UAE. They are striking in May/June when they are in full bloom with red and orange flowers.