We have several varieties of orchid trees(bauhinia) here. One variety is called the Hong Kong orchid tree and it blooms winter to spring and doesn't make seeds. They are blooming now. Here is my little one
Orchid trees are starting to bloom
Here is close up
Here is a big tree in someone elses yard
For a minute I got this confused with a Chorisia speciosa.
http://davesgarden.com/pdb/showimage/9554/ which we have a few of here.
This is very pretty Susie. You must behaving so much fun planting all the special tropicals!
Soo pretty!
I love bauhinias! I have several, though, only one is blooming size at this point (B. galpinii). It has kind of brick red flowers. There several growth habits - trees, shrubs, dwarf shrubs, and vines, and all are true bauhinias! It's a very pretty genus.
oops... sry, the pic is a little large.
Susie, I love the last picture. That color is so pretty and I have not seen that one. Do you know if it produces seedpods or not. I have a couple planted in my garden but they have not bloomed yet. This is the second year that they are there.
I made a mistake Susie.......I was looking at the unusual color of Carter's. I have seen many kinds but not the one Carter has.
I like the one Carter posted. Now I'll be on the hunt for one of those! Frannie, I think they take three years to bloom from seed. The one I posted above doesn't make seed, it has to be grown from a cutting.
I love them, but haven't managed to keep one over a winter yet. I don't usually have too much trouble overwintering plants, but I've killed several of these so far. Ok, probably closer to six or seven, some I've grown from seed, and a couple of plants from ebay. Anybody know any special treatment for wintering indoors?
I can't help ya, Ronna. Mine is in the ground. I just cut it back each winter/early spring (it grows like a weed - I generally cut it back once or twice during the growing season, too, just to contain it). The blooms aren't quite as washed out as that pic appears.
Now that I'm home, here's a little better pic. Flower is about 3" across.
OK, that does it! I'm going to Raymondsville and I sure hope he has one of those!(he has 5 acres of tropical plants). It's yuckie and rainy here so might as well go plant shopping!
Carter, that is a beautiful flower!
Gorgeous flowers on your orchid trees you guys. Love that last one of Carters. Very showy.
Maybe they would grow here outside then if all you guys can all grow it, How cool can they get before they die?
And can they be grown in a large pot????
CC, I had one and knew I couldn't keep it here so I gave it to my BIL in East Texas and they have it in a big pot. Every winter they drag it into the greenhouse and it blooms like crazy for them. Craig threatens to leave it out every year, but every year, it gets shelter. They do get below freezing sometimes. I do think it blooms before they take it in though.
Dang,I had some seeds that I gave away cause I didn't think it would grow in a pot!
CC, the Hong Kong one is much more showy than the ones grown from seed. I'll try to start you a cutting and send it with your Ice Cream banana in the spring.
I went to a nursery today, they didn't have the one like Carter has, but maybe next week in San Antonio I can find one!
I love you Susie
that nana that has the nanas on it in the GH has 4 pups now and the one pup is almost to the height of the mama
hope some stay small enough to mail to you
I hope so too! I was gonna steal Mel's AeAe nana and it got to big to fit in the Explorer so it's safe now!
thats why you need a Pick up truck
no restrictions on size of plants to steal......LOL
Is the AE AE pupping? Not that I want one again. Killing it once was enough for me!
Hey Susie, I want the showy one of these. Forget CC, I am more worthy!
hey,at least I didn't kill a ae ae......
Like SOME people we know......LOL
kell I bet they sell them at nurserys near you......
they're probably hardy there
edited cause I can't spell....
This message was edited Dec 5, 2004 8:44 PM
I have never seen it here CC. You would think it would be here though!
Kell, I am in zone 9b and my B. galpinii lives outdoors year round (in the ground). I also have a B. tormentosa seedling and B. grandidier, both in small pots, that came through last winter ok - a little branch tip dieback, but it cam through just fine.
You can supposedly grow these from cuttings fairly easily, but I've never been able to root a cutting. And I've tried lots of times, lol!!
Cala, have you had luck before? I've tried B. galpinii and B. grandidier, both with no success at all.
I haven't tried before Carter, but as soon as there is a branch without flowers I'm going to try.
CC, there is a nursery that was supposed to get 25 AeAe bananas in in November, but they didn't come in. I think the hurricanes in Fla had something to do with them being delayed.
I wonder how much they will ask for them!
I don't know. I need to go back down there and see if he got anything new in. He said he will get more stuff in late winter/early spring so maybe they will come then.
Susie, could you swing by and pick me up? I would love to go plant shopping with you. Only you would have to keep the plants I bought down there because they would not make it here.
It would be nice to get out of this snow.
Jeanette
Jnette, sure I'll swing by if you will buy the gas! I'm going to San Antonio for a week and I hope I get a chance to go plant shopping there.
I think one of the best things about Dave's is that we all get to see the kinds of plants grown in different parts of the country. The problem is you would have to have a gigantic house to hold every plant you wanted.
Guess that is what the conservatories etc. are for.
Have a nice trip. Jeanette
I've rooted bauhinias from cuttings a few times. I have an orange one that I rooted. 'Don't know the name of it. I also took some cuttings off of a Hong Kong, and they appear to still be alive after a couple of months, so I'm hoping they are alive. They get so floppy they really provide lots of limbs to try.
Clare sent me some seeds for the purple this summer. Every single one of them sprouted.
Kay
Orange? Did I hear orange bauhinia? Kay, can you post a picture?? Did you see my pic above of B. galpinii? Does it resemble that flower? What is it's habit?
Orange flowers are my favorite, and if I could find an orange bauhinia, I'd be in heaven!
Carter, it looks like yours except that yours appears to lean a little more to the red side than mine does. I don't have a pic of the flower.....didn't get a digital camera until after it bloomed last year. It is a show-stopper, though.
Mine is very small and in a pot. I bought one that was in a huge pot (took up the entire back of the pickup truck to get home with it). I eventually gave it to my daughter in Florida, who planted it in her yard and then sold her house. I took one cutting off of it before I gave it to her, and that is what I have left.
If you have lots of patience, the next chance I get to try to root some, I'll give it a try for you. (Right now I probably can't even find it.....buried in the depths of the GH somewhere!) LOL
Kay
They might be the same, Kay. The flowers on mine are mostly a tomato-red (being slightly orangish, but mostly red). They change slightly over a day or two as the age. Mine has grown into a somewhat large arching (almost weeping) airy-type shrub. It bloomed throughout the entire summer, up unitl October or so (till the days got considerably shorter and cooler). Does that sound like yours?
I found a picture! Carter, it could be the same one, but I'm not sure.
What do you think? (In my mind I seem to remember them being less red and more orange than the picture. The old mind ain't what it used to be though.)
Kay
This message was edited Dec 8, 2004 1:43 PM
Beautiful blooms, Susie, Carter and Kay.