Some thoughts on the Birds of Paradise.

I know of two of them and I think I had the two types at once.
One died and I have no idea what it was called I think it froze.

They are a member of the Caesalpinia group of plants and there are many of them.

I think the one I have now is Caesalpinia gilliesii.

The seeds are easy to propagate and is a beautiful plant while in bloom a real show stopper.

I planted 6 seeds in a pot and all 6 came up in about two weeks or less.
It doesn't freeze back where I live even down to 10F
Yuccado nursery up the road from me says it is good for zones 7B

Here is a list of all the plants in this family.
[url]http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCaesalpinia&ei=JzPzVIW-MK-asQTv0oCwBg&usg=AFQjCNEKoKOC8b9XBqJjgbwe-3hye76XJQ&bvm=bv.87269000,d.cWc[/url]

Be warned the Pride of Barbados is in this family I have one but it freezes back every year.
It sometimes is called Bird of paradise.


Worth






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Thanks Worth,

I had noticed there were many plants called "bird of paradise" as an umbrella name for many of the different species. I'm guessing the differences are important and calling them all the same name might be problematic if they have different growing requirements. After looking it up a bit I think the one I'm hoping to plant is the "Red Bird of Paradise" ([I]Caesalpinia pulcherrima[/I]) which is the same as the Pride of Barbados. If a freeze will kill them off I'll look for another variety with the same colors instead. Thanks for the heads-up!

[QUOTE=Vespertino;454114]Thanks Worth,

I had noticed there were many plants called "bird of paradise" as an umbrella name for many of the different species. I'm guessing the differences are important and calling them all the same name might be problematic if they have different growing requirements. After looking it up a bit I think the one I'm hoping to plant is the "Red Bird of Paradise" ([I]Caesalpinia pulcherrima[/I]) which is the same as the Pride of Barbados. If a freeze will kill them off I'll look for another variety with the same colors instead. Thanks for the heads-up![/QUOTE]

The pride of Barbados will freeze if you have the weather forecast turned up too loud and it hears it.:lol:
Mine do it ever year but come back from the roots.

Caesalpinia gilliesii is the one you want.
It is sometime called the desert bird of paradise.

Pride of Barbados is the one they sell at the big box stores.

Hi Peeps, a bit of an update, thanks to the Spring floods I didn't get the majority of the plants I wanted, the nurseries were completely under water. So no camellias for me. Unfortunately I discovered that the setting sun + heat is strong enough to fry anything under my live oaks that isn't a "full sun" plant, and I lost several hundreds of dollars worth of "shade" plants once the Texas summer was in full swing. I doubt Camellias will survive under there, so I'm changing plans and going to plant lilies & bulb flowers instead (including the giant texas spider lilly) once fall comes around. After 95% of my under-story plants bit the dust, i just bought whatever plants caught my eye that were on sale, stuck 'em under the trees and decided to see if they'd survive the summer. If they do, I'll buy more to plant in the fall.

My landscaper couldn't find Caesalpinia gilliesii in stock anywhere around here but they did have the Pride of Barbados so I went with those even though they weren't first choice. Got 3 of em! No flowers this year since they're small and just getting situated, but the leaves are so pretty you don't even need the flowers.