 |
Caesalpinia pulcherrima |
 |
| | Regrowth in late June |
| Common name |
pride of Barbados |
| Family |
fabaceae |
| Life cycle |
tender shrub (Z8-11)   |
| Flowers |
orange-red (summer-fall) |
| Size |
to 8' |
| Light |
sun |
| Cultural notes |
well drained soil |
Heat-loving evergreen plant with attractive red/orange flowers and twice-compound leaves composed of tiny oval leaflets. The flowers, which appear year-round in tropical climates and start up in late summer following a winter die-back, attract hummingbirds. Most likely native to the West Indies, it is frost-tender, likely to die back to the ground when hit by a sustained freeze – but it will generally return from its roots in our Houston climate. This was put to the test in January 2018, when a bad freeze clobbered our tender plants. I thought our pride of Barbados was toast when it still hadn't shown signs of life by mid-spring; however, I suddenly spotted its regrowth emerging underneath some other plants that had moved into its space in late June: sure enough, its roots survived, although the specimen was severely set back. That same week I noticed some plants nicely in bloom at the University of Houston; I guess the few degrees higher temperature in the city allowed those to survive with some of their top growth intact.Our specimen also survived the even severer freeze of 2021; this time, I had protected its base with a good helping of mulch, which allowed it to return by mid-spring, and bloom again by mid-summer. Although snow-pea-like seed pods form after blooming, I've not found them to contain viable seeds. I don't know if that's because I grow just one plant, or whether our plant is a sterile variety.
|
| | Long seed pods develop after the flowers fade |
| 
| | After a winter with some moderate freezing nights, new growth pushing up from the base in late March |
|
| | Growth spurt in mid-May showing the intricate developing structures of folded leaflets as well as the first beginnings of flower buds... |
| 
| | ...and a closer-up view of such developing leaflets, with burgundy reverses matching the color of the young stems |
|
| | Just a week after the previous photos, those flower buds, in all their spherical glory, look ready to pop |
|
In our garden, this plant grows in the following area: back fence border About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Caesalpinia pulcherrima
I welcome comments about my web pages; feel free to use the form below to
leave feedback about this particular page. For the benefit of other visitors
to these pages, I will list any relevant comments you leave, and if
appropriate, I will update my page to correct mis-information. Faced with an
ever-increasing onslaught of spam, I'm forced to discard any comments including
html markups. Please submit your comment as plain text. If you have a
comment about the website as a whole, please leave it in my
guestbook. If you
have a question that needs a personal response, please
e-mail me.
|
