Delonix regia - Royal Poinciana Tree

Lovely trees, Andy!

Curiously my son was given some seeds of these trees when he was away on holiday a few weeks ago. He gave me a couple & he planted a few as well. Both of us have only had 1 seed germinate!

Of course we both know they won't be able to live long in the UK climate but for a couple of years, if we can keep them that long, they will make interesting houseplants & perhaps could live outside from May to October, like other tender perennials here.

Balcony,

It’s not an easy tree to grow indoors. It needs lots of heat and sun. In winter, it cannot be allowed to stay wet or it will rot and die very quickly.

I just took a pic of a very large Delonix regia tree which still has flowers even in September.

I understand that, it's only an interesting experiment.

I was looking at my seedling in the kitchen earlier this afternoon. It's still alive & appears to be making a 2nd true leaf! Though the first one was looking a little "dejected". I hope it will survive for at least a year.

I have a 'Bird of Paradise' plant growing in the kitchen. My son brought me a packet of seeds back from a visit to his in-laws in Spain, about 5 years ago. I sowed them but only 2 germinated & 1 quickly died. The other one has gone on to grow & even flowered last year. It is still alive & still in the kitchen. I put it out on the balcony for a month or 2 last year but had to bring it back inside as its leaves took up far too much space & were in danger of getting broken. It's in the process of growing new leaves at the moment & I hope it will flower again this year.

That’s great! Hopefully your Delonix will become a nice little tree. I’ve seen people bonsai Delonix regia.

Your Bird of paradise I’m sure will be blooming soon. It blooms starting now. It blooms when days start getting shorter. I have 4 flowers on my big plant plant starting this past week.

I removed 300 leaves on my Bird of Paradise in Spring, and now need to remove more.

I'm afraid my little "tree" is not going to make it that far! I've been looking at the poor seedling & I don't think it will survive for more than a couple of days more! 😥 I haven't spoken to my son about his seedling but I imagine it has died by now as he had it on a table on his patio & with the cold weather of the last week it surely won't have survived! 😥

My 'Bird of Paradise' is putting out new leaves rapidly. I removed, for the first time, the stumps of leaves that I had cut back the last couple of years as well as a couple that have died this year. I think I will have to cut back & remove a couple more in the next couple of weeks.

My plant flowered in December last year & I hope it will have more flowers this year.

Removing 300 leaves must have been quite a job! It was hard enough for me to remove the bases of about 5 leaves!

I’m so sorry 😞 to hear about your Delonix regia!

Bird of paradise are very easy to grow, they’re so tough!

The poor seedling has finally succumbed & is no more. 😥

I’m so sorry 😞 !

Try the dwarf poinciana (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) if available there. It’s very beautiful and much hardier (even though tropical). It’s very beautiful and doesn’t grow as big.

Thanks, Andy! My son gave me two seeds, but it was only an experiment, out of curiosity, but I did hope it would survive at least a year.

I don't know if my son's one is still growing or has succumbed as well. As he hasn't said anything it may still be alive. Come to think of it I don't think I've told him my seedling has died either.