Erythrina crista-galli

Great shrub/Tree except for the thorn's.

I must have missed this one when you posted it Andrew! What wonderful flowers

Have always admired these in Florida: red of fang and claw. Thought they were subtropical, with winters not below 20 or 30 degrees (and that only briefly). How cold does it get your way? How is it doing some years later?

It's more of a woody based perennial here. But I lost it in the winter of 2007/8 to excessive wet and its replacement last winter when we went down to -8C. Haven't replaced it this year as I want to find a sunnier position for it

There's Erythina herbacea, native to SE US, that's said to be cold hardy to zone 8 (10 to 20 deg. F). Shrub to at least 5 ft, flowering on bare stems, high drought tolerance (so excess wet may be problematic) & attracts hummers. Never liked it as well as E. crista-gallii, myself, but then didn't want many deciduous shrubs in FL.

E.herbacea has not been available in the UK for the last five years so perhaps our wet winters were its undoing