Southern CA Royal Poinciana first flower

[Mangosteen]

After growing in ground for over 10 years, my Delonix regia has finally put out a flower (with hopefully more to come before we cool off in November).  I'm in south Orange County, CA about 10 miles from the Pacific( 33.66250; -117.59028) . The tree faces due south and has a large asphalt cud a sac street only 10 feet away from where its growing.  It goes completely bare in December and doesn't leaf out until May.

[chinandega81]

That's great. It will flower more as it continues to age. Make sure to keep it dry in the cool season and away from artificial light sources at night for best flowering.

[Gonzer]

Most excellent! From afar your Delonix could easily pass for a Schizolobium. Great looking tree.

[JubaeaMan138]

I was thinking schizo as well. Been meaning to get a couple of these the last couple years . Thanks  for the must get royal poinciana reminder!!

[doubravsky]

That's awesome! Maybe there's hope for mine yet

[aztropic]

There definitely IS hope. We have 2 of them planted in the Arizona desert that I grew from seed, and both flower every year.

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona

[konarikcy]

Hi this is Katerina (Kathy) from Nicosia Cyprus a 9b/10a zone. Although Delonix are seen everywhere on the coast, Nicosia is 50km inland and there are only a handful of delonix which thrive and flower here. I have 2 on my pavement facing south- its in the 40's C in july and august, and down to 2-3C min in Dec/Jan. My big delonix is a 29 year old massive tree which gave a flower on the top 2 yrs ag for the first time, similar to yours,  and never to be repeated. The other around 18 years old had a couple of flowers when I bought it and never flowered again. They have beautiful healthy foliage in summer, defoliate in November and come back with leaves in May. The bark on branches sometimes cracks and some branches die off in winter but otherwise ok. Many gardening professionals have seen them and given advice; I've watered them, cut out the water, fertilized them with flowering fertilizer, amino acids etc etc. Tried everything including threatening them with removal but every year I hope that this will be the year fo blooming. 30ft away the cassia javanica, chorisias, spathodea, tabebuia flower without a problem. Any more solutions? Also can anyone explain this artificial light business- I have heard of this before re number of hours of daylight affecting the flowering

Edited October 18, 2021 by konarikcy

[aztropic]

Try to keep them dry during their dormant period. Do not supply water. Without leaves,they don't need any additional water.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[mnorell]

A bump on this thread since the northern hemisphere is about to exit winter...just to re-emphasize aztropic's statement about watering. Delonix regia needs a very dry spring. Withhold all watering...and this species should NEVER be planted in a lawn, especially in cooler or mediterranian-ish climates that have winter rains. Also there is an issue in that they must be protected from street/overhead lighting at night as this confuses their circadian rhythm and they will likely not bloom at all under such conditions. But dryness during that critical pre-flowering season is very important. The most beautiful trees in the Florida Keys are in extremely dry, intensely well-drained substrates composed of porous coral rock where there is no water-table and they get no supplemental irrigation (as in the median of the Overseas Highway in Key Largo). In the Keys, winters are sporadically rainy (winter fronts) and springs are almost completely rainless and quite warm. As long as they have those conditions, plus high heat in May and onward, they will start in late May/June and may continue onward into September or so. It is very frustrating for me to see this species planted throughout the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area) where conditions are excellent and yet few flower very well...they are generally planted in year-round-irrigated lawn adjacent to country clubs or irrigated highway margins, which means they retain a beautiful leafy crown year-round but most just grudgingly throw a few flowers. I had the same problem on Big Pine Key (before Irma threw down all my trees)...if they hit a good source of groundwater they grew to 30' in a few years and looked great but just threw a smattering of flowers for six months, since they could just grow, grow, grow. Starve them, subject them to hot, horrible conditions and they will bloom their heads off. It may be hard for some to bring themselves to do, but a psychological strategy could be to plant them with Madagascar spiny forest plants or for that matter any other desert plants such as Alluaudia, Fouquieria, Adenium, which will force you to reject your impulses to irrigate. It works!

[franchez]

aztropic, your Royal Poinciana is gorgeous! I'm in Phoenix and mine was grown from seed and in the ground since 2008 and it hasn't bloomed yet. I take such great care of it, how can I get it to bloom?  It's gorgeous, tall and majestic, but no blooms. If yours in Mesa can bloom, mine should as well. How often are you watering now and in the summer? Thank you! 

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by franchez

[aztropic]

Mine gets deep watered (50 gallons) now every 2 or 3 weeks till high temps are around 100F. Then it gets watered once a week till about Thanksgiving. No additional water is applied December thru February,to force it to drop it's leaves.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[franchez]

4 hours ago, aztropic said:

Mine gets deep watered (50 gallons) now every 2 or 3 weeks till high temps are around 100F. Then it gets watered once a week till about Thanksgiving. No additional water is applied December thru February,to force it to drop it's leaves.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

Thank you so much!!! How often do you fertilize yours and what do you use? I really appreciate your help, I want it to bloom.

[aztropic]

For fertilizer,I generally hit it with "Arizona's best citrus food",3 times a year. (same as every other fruit and ornamental tree in the yard) Thank goodness,plants can't read! 

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[bubba]

Great information on this thread! For reasons primarily related to rainfall, most of the Royal Poinciana’s in the PB area failed to lose their Foliage this year. Accordingly, they are not blooming as early although they are starting to pop heavily now. Pictures to follow, although one thread has already been started!

[franchez]

5 hours ago, aztropic said:

For fertilizer,I generally hit it with "Arizona's best citrus food",3 times a year. (same as every other fruit and ornamental tree in the yard) Thank goodness,plants can't read! 

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

Thank you once again! What month does yours flower? Will you please post a photo when it does? I'm new to this forum, I found it trying to get info on my RP, is it allowed if I ask if you're on facebook?

[aztropic]

Usually starts flowering late May,here in Arizona. Here's a pic taken May 22,last year. I have NEVER been on Facebook...

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[franchez]

59 minutes ago, aztropic said:

Usually starts flowering late May,here in Arizona. Here's a pic taken May 22,last year. I have NEVER been on Facebook...

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

That is gorgeous, thank you so much for posting it, I sure hope mine flowers this year, it's definitely large and old enough.

 

[aztropic]

It sounds like you may have been taking TOO good care of it in the past. Show it some tough love this winter and - DON'T WATER IT! The winter rains we receive are plenty for a resting tree. 

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[franchez]

Haha, I have been known to "love" my plants too much. I don't ever water it in the winter, I know it wants to be dormant. I covered it and put lights on it for 10 years, last year was the first one without cover because it was too big. It is leafing out and looking wonderful now, but I want blooms!  Here is mine last fall, it looked like a bush because I should have trimmed the bottom branches, but couldn't make myself cut it. I pruned it last month and it's looking more like a tree, I'll take a photo later today.

[aztropic]

Here is a pic of one of mine -just taken today. It's already loaded with thousands of developing blooms. To be honest, your tree might need a couple more years of growth before it's flowering size under desert conditions. Ours didn't start flowering till they were 10-12 feet tall,overall. In tropical climates,they do seem to flower at a smaller size.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[franchez]

Mine is over 12 feet tall, but it has a very short trunk. It died to the ground a few times, so the trunks have started over and I think it stunted it. Here is what it looks like today, I trimmed up the bottom so it looks more like a tree. The seed was planted in 2008 and it was put in the ground 3 years later, so it has been in the ground for over 10 years. The branches get longer, but the trunk doesn't. If yours has buds I would guess this is the time for mine to have buds too.

[Silas_Sancona]

30 minutes ago, franchez said:

Mine is over 12 feet tall, but it has a very short trunk. It died to the ground a few times, so the trunks have started over and I think it stunted it. Here is what it looks like today, I trimmed up the bottom so it looks more like a tree. The seed was planted in 2008 and it was put in the ground 3 years later, so it has been in the ground for over 10 years. The branches get longer, but the trunk doesn't. If yours has buds I would guess this is the time for mine to have buds too.

Depending where you're located in town, you might make a trip over to Civic Center Park  in Scottsdale.. There's a multi trunked, short RP in an island where the entrance to the Police Station is located ( east side of the park, on N. 75th St. if looking for it on street view ). Like how it looks myself.  No idea how old it is,  but has been blooming it's head off for years ( last saw it in 2018 myself when flowering in late Aug or September ) 

There's another specimen of similar size near the parking garage to the Police Station / Library on Drinkwater ( right hand side if headed north on Drinkwater ). Has also been flowering for several years, despite being short / multi-trunked. Had flowers on it around the same time as the one by the Police Station.. May have been a couple more planted along the same stretch of Drinkwater but they may have been pulled out.  Didn't see them when looking at street view today.

Have to check on a single- trunked RP around the corner from me.. Has flowered every year since planted, despite the home owner trimming it ( no idea why they do ) Think it is at ~ roughly  10- 12ft atm.  Gets singed some winters but roars right back by about now. 

Can't remember the exact location, but sighted a decent sized specimen, next to a church in the South Mountain area back in 2019.

[franchez]

Thank you, I will check those out and it makes me feel better that there are trees with small trunks that have bloomed. I'm going to get some citrus food this weekend, I did give it some 0-45-0 in late March when I fed my iris. I usually give it fish emulsion as well, I feel like I'm doing everything right, hopefully it blooms soon. I appreciate all of your help.

[Silas_Sancona]

1 minute ago, franchez said:

Thank you, I will check those out and it makes me feel better that there are trees with small trunks that have bloomed. I'm going to get some citrus food this weekend, I did give it some 0-45-0 in late March when I fed my iris. I usually give it fish emulsion as well, I feel like I'm doing everything right, hopefully it blooms soon. I appreciate all of your help.

  No problem, need to check on the Scottsdale trees / other stuff at the park myself.

Ooh.. that's A LOT of Phosphorus.. Might avoid giving the tree  that much PH.  In general, Phosphorus moves slowly through the soil and too much of it will kill all the microbes in your soil / can cause other essential nutrients to get locked up.  All those fertilizers you see that " claim " high Phos. ferts are the way to get things to flower?   Just a sales gimic..

Doesn't work,  and ..if you have any Hibiscus, Plumeria, some other flowering " Tropicals "  High PH fert.  will kill them over time..  K ( Potassium ) is better for promoting flowers / fruit development < on fruit trees >  and is also great for strengthening plants to stressors like Drought, Heat, and Cold exposure. 

One final thought? since Royal Poinciana are Legumes, they really don't need too much added Nitrogen as well ( Fix their own N )  Give them lots of it and you'll get lots of vibrant, green growth, ..at the expense of trying to flower.

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, Silas_Sancona said:

  No problem, need to check on the Scottsdale trees / other stuff at the park myself.

Ooh.. that's A LOT of Phosphorus.. Might avoid giving the tree  that much PH.  In general, Phosphorus moves slowly through the soil and too much of it will kill all the microbes in your soil / can cause other essential nutrients to get locked up.  All those fertilizers you see that " claim " high Phos. ferts are the way to get things to flower?   Just a sales gimic..

Doesn't work,  and ..if you have any Hibiscus, Plumeria, some other flowering " Tropicals "  High PH fert.  will kill them over time..  K ( Potassium ) is better for promoting flowers / fruit development < on fruit trees >  and is also great for strengthening plants to stressors like Drought, Heat, and Cold exposure. 

One final thought? since Royal Poinciana are Legumes, they really don't need too much added Nitrogen as well ( Fix their own N )  Give them lots of it and you'll get lots of vibrant, green growth, ..at the expense of trying to flower.

Had been looking for this for awhile  to post in w/ a recent thread on Plumeria,  but is also relevant here..   More of a summary of the original article i'd read, but lays out the most important information. As far as supplying more K?  i myself use a product called Langbenite ( 22% K ) that is slow release. 

https://www.prlog.org/10192103-high-middle-number-plumeria-fertilizer-information.html

 

[franchez]

That's great info, thanks once again, I will buy some Citrus food and give it that. I also make banana tea for my tropicals and I can give my RP some of that as well. I used the 0-45-0 because I'm so desperate to see it bloom, but I won't do that again. I didn't use that much. I even moved all of my rocks away from the base and have a few feet of mulch, (you can see that in the photo) so that should help keep it healthy as well.

[franchez]

Oops, I didn't realize that a new member was giving me info, thank you Silas! Thank you for the link. I love that there are others in Arizona with these trees, I love getting info that is truly relevant to my area. It looks like you may have a pond, I'm getting ready to separate my water lilies in the next few weeks and will have extras if you'd like some.

 

[Silas_Sancona]

11 minutes ago, franchez said:

Oops, I didn't realize that a new member was giving me info, thank you Silas! Thank you for the link. I love that there are others in Arizona with these trees, I love getting info that is truly relevant to my area. It looks like you may have a pond, I'm getting ready to separate my water lilies in the next few weeks and will have extras if you'd like some.

 

Its all good..  No pond ( though i wish i had one, lol )  Yerba Mansa ( Anemopsis californica ) flowers in my avatar are from a local park here in Chandler..  Have some planted here as a ground cover, but no flowers on them yet.

Curious what color water lilies you're growing.. Any tropicals?   May put horse trough on blocks in the back yard next year to satisfy my pond / water lily fix.  Grow pretty much everything else, so why not add a water garden to the mix, haha..

As for the extra Phosphorus, Applying such a dose once shouldn't hurt anything..  Just don't add more..  Want to see your RP full of flowers asap.

[hbernstein]

Here in the Miami area growing a poinciana is a no-brainer, of course. The species can actually be quite weedy. Light at night will ruin the flowering cycle.

I went to school at Tel Aviv University in Israel years ago. The poincianas on campus bloomed prolifically without much, if any, supplementary irrigation. Tel Aviv's climate is very Mediterranean, of course,  mild with rain in November-December and hot and bone dry in the Summer. The trees didn't suffer!

[franchez]

Our seed came from Tel Aviv! My son was volunteering in Israel after high school and fell in love with the trees he saw everywhere there. He brought home 40 seeds and only one grew, that's why this tree is so sentimental to me and I want to see it bloom.  Our climate in Arizona is much more extreme than Florida, we have higher temps with little to no humidity, but it seems like they can still thrive here.  I recently add lighting to my front yard and I have 2 lights on it at night. They're not that bright, but do you think that will hinder the bloom? I haven't had them on before and it never has bloomed in the past.

[franchez]

I didn't realize that Yerba Mansa could grow in soil, I want to get some for my pond. I have 3 colors of water lilies, I'll post photos. The first 3 are Wanvisa, they bloom all pink or pink and yellow mixed.  I also have a yellow and a King of Siam which is purple. I call it a pond, but it's really just a waterfall retention area, very small. We've had fish, but the herons always eat them, so now I just have plants in it now.  Thank you, I want to see our RP bloom as well, so badly!!! 

[Silas_Sancona]

15 minutes ago, franchez said:

I didn't realize that Yerba Mansa could grow in soil, I want to get some for my pond. I have 3 colors of water lilies, I'll post photos. The first 3 are Wanvisa, they bloom all pink or pink and yellow mixed.  I also have a yellow and a King of Siam which is purple. I call it a pond, but it's really just a waterfall retention area, very small. We've had fish, but the herons always eat them, so now I just have plants in it now.  Thank you, I want to see our RP bloom as well, so badly!!! 

Very nice.. Want to try some of the fragrant, night flowering waterlilies like " Antares ",  and " Red Flare",  ..and maybe one or two of the blue, day flowering types like " Tanzanite "

Yerba Mansa will definitely grow in soil, as long as where they are planted is watered regularly, and is in the shade ( here at least ). Mine are in a shaded bed in front of the house.  Hard to beat for leafy, tropical looking ground cover here.  Will say, keep an eye on it since it likes to spread.. Mine are already trying to move around a bit. That said, it is easy to keep in check, just snip off any runners where you don't want them to wander.

[franchez]

Thank you, I will look for it.

 

[hbernstein]

1 hour ago, franchez said:

Our seed came from Tel Aviv! My son was volunteering in Israel after high school and fell in love with the trees he saw everywhere there. He brought home 40 seeds and only one grew, that's why this tree is so sentimental to me and I want to see it bloom.  Our climate in Arizona is much more extreme than Florida, we have higher temps with little to no humidity, but it seems like they can still thrive here.  I recently add lighting to my front yard and I have 2 lights on it at night. They're not that bright, but do you think that will hinder the bloom? I haven't had them on before and it never has bloomed in the past.

Even a small amount of light can affect bud initiation. If the lights are more directional, point down, or are otherwise shielded from the the tree, it should be okay.

Locally, the sides of trees facing streetlights, for example, don't bloom.

[Than]

27 minutes ago, franchez said:

Thank you, I will look for it.

 

How do you make sure the soil is dry in the winter? I guess it rains a lot then.

My delonix is still a baby. I live in zone 9b/10a. I don't know if I stand any chances. I've never seen a delonix here, but I wanna try it anyway. However winter is the rainy season here so keeping the soil dry will be a challenge. 

[Silas_Sancona]

Neighborhood RP.. Notice, while single trunked, the canopy isn't as wide as specimens i have seen other places w/ a trunk of similar thickness. Fully budded atm, so will check on it again in a week or two once they start popping.  Smaller tree in front of it in the 1st picture is another Moringa ( lots of large ones in my neighborhood ).

[franchez]

Beautiful! If they're all budding out right now, it doesn't look like this will be my year for blooms.  I chopped my Moringa in half like people said I should and it's not leafing out yet, I hope as it warms out it starts to.

[Silas_Sancona]

5 minutes ago, franchez said:

Beautiful! If they're all budding out right now, it doesn't look like this will be my year for blooms.  I chopped my Moringa in half like people said I should and it's not leafing out yet, I hope as it warms out it starts to.

Interesting, i'd never heard of cutting  back Moringa.. A neighbor on my general block, and another neighbor, over by where the Royal Poinciana is, never cut theirs. ..not that i have noticed anyway.  Imagine yours should start moving again soon.. 
 

Btw, if you can grow RP,  Cassia fistula ( Golden Shower Tree ) is another uncommon " Tropical " flowering tree that can do well here as well.. The neighbor by the RP has 3, though one may be on it's way out ( think they weren't watered consistently for a time back in 2020. Other two look alright though ) She'd told me she grew them from seed, something like 10 or 12 years ago. She also has a large Tamarind in her yard. Flowers, but has never set fruit, for whatever reason. Is also something like 15 years old.

[mnorell]

On 4/29/2022 at 3:56 PM, hbernstein said:

Even a small amount of light can affect bud initiation. If the lights are more directional, point down, or are otherwise shielded from the the tree, it should be okay.

Locally, the sides of trees facing streetlights, for example, don't bloom.

I don't know if any formal studies have been attempted or published on the specifics of this phenomenon, but I believe the trees on South Miami Avenue that alerted many to the problem were suffering under high-intensity sodium-vapor lights above the canopies, per at least one online source (article by Steve Pearson) that also corroborates your statement that the lights were causing the trees to keep their foliage, and that the sides of the trees that were protected from the brunt of the lighting would defoliate and flower while the sides directly under the lights would remain evergreen and never flower. The problem was solved when different lighting (the type of the replacements is not specified in the source I read) were installed in new, much lower fixtures situated below the canopies. It may be that uplighting (i.e., from below), especially if below a certain intensity or of a low color-temperature (say, 2700K or so) may be allowable. It seems to me I've seen nicely performing Delonix in Key West and in Miami at hotels, etc., that are uplit in such a fashion and they flower just fine. It seems logical that high-intensity, and perhaps high-Kelvin, lighting from above would more effectively confuse the trees, so perhaps typical residential-intensity fixtures placed low and illuminating branches/trunk rather than canopy, would be okay. I think it's worth investigating, in any event, to try to get a more detailed understanding of the parameters within which the problem begins to assert itself. 

[bubba]

Interesting issue regarding the effect of lighting on blooming. Also, it is a bit strange that there are more Delonix regia in Miami than in Madagascar, where they are indigenous.