Its always awesome!

Hong Kong orchid trees are sterile and don't produce seeds. If you have seeds it just a regular orchid tree that produces lots of seeds and may be invasive depending where you are. The flowers look the same and many times trees are mislabeled.

Katkin, that is exactly what I had read, but while conversing with one of the horticultural members of Busch, I was informed that their HKO trees tended to reseed themselves from time to time. I am only aware of two trees at BG, one in the Jungala kids' area and one near the Smokehouse restaurant. I haven't seen pods on the Jungala one, but there have been some on the Smokehouse one, so perhaps one is HKO and the other is just Orchid. I was only able to (discreetly) reach a few pods and of those pods I only found two seeds and those seeds did not look promising. I will not be surprised if they fail to germinate.

I have had a HKO tree for years and it's never produced seeds. Years before I had the regular orchid tree in both the white and the purple and both produced many seed pods and I had seedlings popping up every where. I took them both out and got the HKO tree.

I have the all yellow "Caesalpinia pulcherrima 'Aurea'". I think I have one started from seed hidden in one of my pot ghettos. Otherwise there is a small seed pod ripening on the bush now. Does anyone have the pink version that they would be interested in trading seeds or seedlings for? Growing from seed is really alot of fun. I'm with you Michael...sometimes I grow stuff I don't need just to see them sprout!

Helen

I don't have pink, but I have orange. I'd love to trade. PM me if interested.

Thanks halfwaythere, but I have the Orange too. I'd be happy to send you the pod that's ripening now. Last pod I got 3 seeds and 3 grew :)

Well, I had 9 sprout and transfered them them to 4" pots. But we had so much rain and such little sun that I lost about half to root rot. At least that is what I am guessing from the saturated soil, even though both the soil and the pots drain fairly well. I will probably add sand at a 1:1 ratio next time.

Then the sun finally did come out the other day and even though I had them in a sheltered spot that was shaded by 10am, the sun still fried another two. So now I have three left, but I have some more pods of seeds left, so if I need to start over, I can.

Do these have thorns? I was given some seed and was told it was Barbados Pride. When I googled, it comes up as Dwarf Poinciana. I'm not sure what I have or how big it gets. I started the seeds and they have grown quite large and are ready to go in the ground. The small plants have thorns.

Jane

Jane

Mine certainly have thorns lol There may be some thornless varieties ??

I grow mine in a large pot (actually a garbage can) Very amendable to pruning I remove about half at least once a year ,keeping it around 4/5 feet

This results it a much fuller plant with more flower heads On their own they will become a small tree.I'm guessing at least 15 feet ?? Now what to do about the gazillions of seed pods?? lol

Maybe someone will tell us about a thornless cultivar?? gary

All of them have thorns. (Good playground plant) I have 2 pinks, 1 orange, and 1 yellow. No seeds right now, but they will have plenty of them shortly and you can have as many as you want!

Jane, I think Pride of Barbados is another common name for the same plant. :o)

Ricky, I lost my pink one, so I might like some seeds to that one too, if you get enough.

Kat - there will be hundreds of seeds. These trees are all over 8' tall and have at least 6 major limbs. I'll probably start some pink ones in 3-gallon cans in the late fall. One of these days, we'll have to have another plant swap!

It would be a while before I would be able to come to a swap, I am recovering from lung cancer surgery.

I visited another garden today and they had another orange variety growing in a very sunny spot. I managed to get another two seed pods, so I have plenty of opportunities to get one to grow. I just need to get the seedling conditions right.

Kat - Sorry to hear that and I wish you a speedy recovery. I'll let you know when I have seeds and I'll be happy to mail them to you.

@wanna_run_faster I'd love some seeds, thank you! I'll inbox you. If anyone has and pink to trade for orange, I'd appreciate it. In fact if anyone wants orange I have plenty.

This just bloomed today. From seeds I brought home from Jamaica in December 2014. It appears to be a cross between the orange and yellow varieties. It's only one I've ever seen. There are 3 seedlings in the picture. I've twisted the two tallest ones together to keep them falling over and will let them grow this way.

@wanna_run_faster I tried to inbox you but there is no option. Can you inbox me? I looked at your want list and I have Neoregelia tossed salad pups if you like.

Katkin

Sorry to hear about the cancer . I couldn't have surgery so went with cyberknife treatment Just crossed 5 years in July without any activity Just had another complete scan on the 5th no results until the 12th. Have fingers crossed !! lol Good luck!!! gary

Thanks Gary. It was such a shock to me since I quit smoking over 20 years ago. They removed half my left lung but think they got it all. So you had chemo? I'll keep my fingers crossed for you too. Good luck to you also.

Prayers for both of you kind people. Your advice here is invaluable. Always helpful and much appreciated!

Thank you, halfway, prayers are always welcome. :o)

Michael,

I started the seeds you gave me about a week and a half ago. I planted 23 seeds each in their own little peat pot. I started them inside but moved them to the front porch after a few days because they weren't getting enough sun. They are thriving now, several are now around 3 inches high and a few are just now popping up. Looks like all but one made it so far.

I'll try to get a pic this weekend. Thanks again for the generosity.

Rhonda

Oh, Gary, my thoughts and prayers are with you and katkin. Gary I remember 5 years ago and assumed all was well. Fingers, toes crossed.

After reading Gary's post I'm wondering where to plant these seedlings. My neighbor is from Puerto Rico, I gave her a seedling and she said they should not be planted near the street or water lines. Their roots will break cement and water lines. She's growing hers in a large pot.

So now, I'm not sure if I should put these in the ground. Gary, you said they get 4ft. Is that 4ft tall or wide? Or both?

I have no idea what color mine are. I planted 12 seedlings in March and they are all large. They germinated very quickly. I started them in Miracle Gro in full sun.

Anyway, please be well and I'm hoping for only good news.

Jane

Thank you, Jane, all prayers are welcome.