Brachychiton acerfolius

[Peter]

Huntington Botanic Garden, Pasadena, CA

[Hillizard]

19 hours ago, Peter said:

Huntington Botanic Garden, Pasadena, CA

Great pictures. What a beautiful tree. Thanks for posting. Mine is within a year or so of the size of this one and has the same basic branching pattern... but has never suggested it's going to bloom anytime soon. Oh well, at least the tree provides great shade for understory palms and other plants. Triple digit heat scorches some of the leaves. 😉

[Than]

Does this species provide good shade? Is it a good choice for shading my garden? 

[happypalms]

One beautiful Australian tree they are flowering now in my area they are native to my area in the rainforest and to see one in habitat is amazing in flower easy to propagate and grow i have several in my garden the last photo is there habitat Dorrigo national park in Australia often planted together with the jacaranda tree another brachychiton species is the kurrajong well worth growing they make an excellent shade tree quite fast growing the only problem with them is they are deciduous and drop a lot of leaves so not recommended for poolside plantings but apart from that they are an Australian icon tree even the band Cold chisel have a famous song called Flame trees written about jimmy barnes home town Grafton Australia well worth listening to 

[Than]

17 minutes ago, happypalms said:

One beautiful Australian tree they are flowering now in my area they are native to my area in the rainforest and to see one in habitat is amazing in flower easy to propagate and grow i have several in my garden the last photo is there habitat Dorrigo national park in Australia often planted together with the jacaranda tree another brachychiton species is the kurrajong well worth growing they make an excellent shade tree quite fast growing the only problem with them is they are deciduous and drop a lot of leaves so not recommended for poolside plantings but apart from that they are an Australian icon tree even the band Cold chisel have a famous song called Flame trees written about jimmy barnes home town Grafton Australia well worth listening to 

When do Illawarra trees drop their leaves? In the winter?

[happypalms]

2 minutes ago, ego said:

When do Illawarra trees drop their leaves? In the winter?

Yes usually early spring and I stand corrected it was the town of Oberon not Grafton 

[happypalms]

Just now, happypalms said:

Yes usually early spring and I stand corrected it was the town of Oberon not Grafton 

They also take a long time to flower ten years or more 

[Than]

2 minutes ago, happypalms said:

Yes usually early spring and I stand corrected it was the town of Oberon not Grafton 

Early spring? So it still has leaves during the winter then.. weird pattern

[Than]

11 minutes ago, happypalms said:

They also take a long time to flower ten years or more 

A friend who has one told me that it creates lots of mess in the form of leaves, seeds, flowers etc. Is it true?

[Peter]

Any flowering tree worth it's salt is going to create some 'mess'.   The flowers have to go somewhere, and quite often the best displays are on trees that have gone deciduous before flowering.  It's the nature of the beast

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, Peter said:

Any flowering tree worth it's salt is going to create some 'mess'.   The flowers have to go somewhere, and quite often the best displays are on trees that have gone deciduous before flowering.  It's the nature of the beast

That " mess " = free future compost and fertilizer, that you don't have to pay for .. .for next year's leaves n' flowers..

[happypalms]

12 hours ago, ego said:

A friend who has one told me that it creates lots of mess in the form of leaves, seeds, flowers etc. Is it true?

Yes they make a mess not for poolside plantings that’s for sure depending where it’s planted I guess how much of a mess there is 

[happypalms]

But they are beautiful in park like setting planted with other flowering trees 

[happypalms]

13 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

That " mess " = free future compost and fertilizer, that you don't have to pay for .. .for next year's leaves n' flowers..

To true and the red carpet on the ground is amazing well worth it and as for the mulch it’s a bonus 

[happypalms]

Here’s another one in my home town in the middle of the street they take extremely hot conditions and cold