Delonix regia in the Coachella Valley

[mnorell]

It's Royal Poinciana season here in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area), I have seen quite a number of trees firing off this past week.

Moller's Nursery has an in-ground specimen:

Here is the best one I've noticed so far, yesterday at the Kobe Steak House here in Rancho Mirage:


That tree has a non-blooming side, it is right next to strong night-lighting (a valet drop-off area for the restaurant). I don't know if that's why, and I haven't ever noticed how bright this light is, but it fits with problems observed elsewhere on strong overhead night-lighting squelching the bloom:


I also had to drive to La Quinta yesterday and noticed a couple of specimens along Highway 111 in Indian Wells were in bloom as well. A tree I've always noticed right at the city limits of La Quinta had a full, lush canopy but didn't have a single bloom. I've noticed this on other trees and assume it's due to winter watering. Another I used to notice here in Rancho Mirage at Thunderbird Country Club, visible from the 111, seems to have disappeared, or possibly obscured by other vegetation. I never saw it bloom but again it was evergreen so presumably overwatered.

Trees are still rather uncommon (though more are popping up year after year) and most have been planted in country clubs or public plantings set into year-round irrigated lawns, which means a very poor flowering show. They are not easy to find in nurseries and Moller's brings in quite a few each year at staggering prices and they move right on out within days it seems. As good specimens become more common of course people seek them out, and I'm sure we'll more commonly see some really nice flowering shows, perhaps more in residential settings where someone is more likely to neglect them. I don't know of any that have been planted in desert-scapes where they would be tormented enough to put on a Florida-style show.

Does anyone else have any shots or observations of noteworthy specimens in Palm Springs or other Coachella Valley cities?

[bubba]

Those look better and more thorough than those in south Florida. For some reason, when we have a mild to warm winter, they do not seem to produce at a great level. Great shots!

[mnorell]

13 minutes ago, bubba said:

Those look better and more thorough than those in south Florida. For some reason, when we have a mild to warm winter, they do not seem to produce at a great level. Great shots!

Bubba, didn't SE Florida get gobs of rain this winter/spring as well? Maybe that helped knock down the blooming. Of course, it's just the first of June and there are a couple of months left, in case blooming was just retarded a bit? I wonder if they're blooming really well in the drought-plagued area around Tampa Bay. I would think they would see a great show, as long as they didn't get frosted.

I've always noticed in the Keys that those in the Middle and especially Upper Keys (Key Largo) seem to have the most regular, spectacular bloom. Key West is hit and miss but usually you can find at least a few spectacular trees. But if they get too much water they just spit out blooms from May through September with zero razzle-dazzle. That was my experience on Big Pine, which has a big freshwater lens...and once roots find that pool of water, the bloom is off.

This year we had an amazingly chilly, long fall-winter-early spring in California, including the low desert, and I don't know if that has affected the blooming patterns. We have been having lovely weather here lately with highs in the 80s and 90s rather than 100-ish, but the entire coastal plain of California is really socked in this spring, more than normal...I think largely due to depressed sea-surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific. 87 degrees here today at mid-day but the Wundermap shows that it is cold (60s) on the other side of the mountains from San Luis Obispo all the way down to the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas (and 50s north of that!). I wonder if any Delonix are blooming coastally this year. I assume at the least that it will be pushed back on the calendar for those more coastal trees in favored spots that are known to bloom most years.

One great thing about this tree is that, even without flowers, it is such a lovely thing with that graceful, ferny foliage, perfect form, and that amazing trunk and bark, which to me seems to be perfectly mimicking the bottom section of an elephant, complete with wrinkled skin. It's really an amazing tree.

[bubba]

Lots and lots of rain before the commencement of what would usually be the end of rainy season. I also agree with you totally regarding Key Largo as the epicenter of great beauty in Florida for the Royal Poinciana. This is one from last year:

[bubba]

It seems to me that the entire Springs desert basin should be thoroughly planted In Royal Poincianas.

[Tracy]

22 hours ago, mnorell said:

It's Royal Poinciana season here in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area), I have seen quite a number of trees firing off this past week.

Moller's Nursery has an in-ground specimen:

Here is the best one I've noticed so far, yesterday at the Kobe Steak House here in Rancho Mirage:


That tree has a non-blooming side, it is right next to strong night-lighting (a valet drop-off area for the restaurant). I don't know if that's why, and I haven't ever noticed how bright this light is, but it fits with problems observed elsewhere on strong overhead night-lighting squelching the bloom:


I also had to drive to La Quinta yesterday and noticed a couple of specimens along Highway 111 in Indian Wells were in bloom as well. A tree I've always noticed right at the city limits of La Quinta had a full, lush canopy but didn't have a single bloom. I've noticed this on other trees and assume it's due to winter watering. Another I used to notice here in Rancho Mirage at Thunderbird Country Club, visible from the 111, seems to have disappeared, or possibly obscured by other vegetation. I never saw it bloom but again it was evergreen so presumably overwatered.

Trees are still rather uncommon (though more are popping up year after year) and most have been planted in country clubs or public plantings set into year-round irrigated lawns, which means a very poor flowering show. They are not easy to find in nurseries and Moller's brings in quite a few each year at staggering prices and they move right on out within days it seems. As good specimens become more common of course people seek them out, and I'm sure we'll more commonly see some really nice flowering shows, perhaps more in residential settings where someone is more likely to neglect them. I don't know of any that have been planted in desert-scapes where they would be tormented enough to put on a Florida-style show.

Does anyone else have any shots or observations of noteworthy specimens in Palm Springs or other Coachella Valley cities?

Since you mentioned it, I am curious about what the price point is on the ones being brought into the Valley and what size.  

I need to look up the leaves on these as I wouldn't recognize one if I saw it unfortunately.   My guess is there are probably some in the neighborhoods I frequently walk with my dogs in Coastal North San Diego County.   Despite the May gray and June Gloom we have now, there are lots of flowering trees putting on their annual displays this Spring. The forecast seems stuck here:   overnight low of 59 or 60, and highs between 62 and 65 with occasional mist or drizzle in the mornings.  It is consistent though.  

[mnorell]

8 hours ago, Tracy said:

Since you mentioned it, I am curious about what the price point is on the ones being brought into the Valley and what size.  

I need to look up the leaves on these as I wouldn't recognize one if I saw it unfortunately.   My guess is there are probably some in the neighborhoods I frequently walk with my dogs in Coastal North San Diego County.   Despite the May gray and June Gloom we have now, there are lots of flowering trees putting on their annual displays this Spring. The forecast seems stuck here:   overnight low of 59 or 60, and highs between 62 and 65 with occasional mist or drizzle in the mornings.  It is consistent though.  

Tracy...Moller's (most expensive nursery out here by far) was selling them last year for I think $600 for a 15. They also sell 25g/18"/24" boxes on occasion but I don't remember the pricing on them. High!! And we're not talking about terribly large specimens of this tree that is VERY fast-growing from seed. Decent, but by my reckoning at the very least triple what they should be going for. I think they can be found (I have been told so by Mexican gardeners) at the mom-and-pop Mexican nurseries that are out in Thousand Palms, Coachella, Indio...but I haven't been out searching so can't say for sure. 

Once you get to know the leaves on Delonix regia you'll probably never forget them. They are quite large, lie rather flat for the most part, and have so many of those feathery leaflets of a very rich forest green...not at all the same type of thing you see in a Jacaranda. Colvillea racemosa's leaves are close in design though larger, if you know that species. And I feel for you in this chilly, gloomy May/June of 2023, I hear about it regularly since my sister lives in Cardiff...and I think this is going to be one of "those" summers where you barely see the sun at the coast and everyone gets very growly as it wends on, owing to the below-normal SSTs. So many things bloomed a month late here this spring out here in the desert. But there are a number of Delonix that have been documented even quite coastally in SD over recent years, some with quite respectable blooms, so I think it holds that plants don't read books...and there may be some in your area. I've never noticed any in Cardiff on my visits...but you never know, I recently noticed on a walk there a house with an army of Ravenala madagascariensis, within site of the Pacific. I was really shocked to see them so large and healthy in such a cool location. So you never know!

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, mnorell said:

I've never noticed any in Cardiff on my visits...but you never know, I recently noticed on a walk there a house with an army of Ravenala madagascariensis, within site of the Pacific. I was really shocked to see them so large and healthy in such a cool location. So you never know!

Let me know next time you are down visiting your sister in Cardiff and I will give you the nickel tour of my small garden.  Thanks for the info above too!  Cardiff has better low tolerance than I do for the most part, surprising as that may seem due to our proximity and similar geography.  I have seen several Ravenala magagascariencsis in that part of town (they are part of the City of Encinitas just like Leucadia despite having a separate zip code).  The cold air flowing down the Bataquitos lagoon seems to affect us more than the San Elijo Lagoon affects Cardiff.  I'm also wondering if they grow any Delonix regia at Quail / SD Botanical Garden which sits between Cardiff and Leucadia on the opposite side of the freeway from me.

[mnorell]

Thanks, Tracy, I would love to see it and will PM you when there is a visit on the horizon...

I wouldn't be surprised if they have a Delonix planted at Quail...though I haven't been in years. I understand they have some really great stuff there nowadays.

There are also some other Delonix species with some very different qualities. I'm not sure of their heat requirements but all of them are at least worth exploring.

One of the regularly blooming Delonix regia surprisingly close to the water and which has been discussed in the past on PalmTalk is at 2250 Commercial St. on the south side of downtown. You might want to check it out.

[aztropic]

Arizona also has some 'fire in the sky'. 😄 

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

[bubba]

They say that there are more Royal Poinciana's in Miami they had the entire island of Madagascar, where they are indigenous and endangered. That stated, the colors you guys get out in the desert are sensational. Many more Royal Poinciana's should be planted!