Pride of Barbados

I ordered some Caesalpinia seeds (the common orange one and a rarer pink one) and wondered when I should start them? I plan on overwintering them indoors, so should I just start the seeds outdoors once it's reliably warm? Or I have a bright southeast window I could start them in.......
Any help would be great!

Thanks,
Steve

I'd say start germinating them now... It took about 8 months (probably longer) even down here for mine to flower and then to set seed. It seems that it took at least a month from when mine flowered until when seed was ready to come off.

Mine is in a 2 or 3-gallon pot, having germinated from seed in either April or June of last year.
(LOL, sorry- I wish now that I had kept the dates written down so that I could be of more help)

Good luck :)
~Gina

Thanks Gina :)
So yours flowered in their first year? I keep reading different reports about that, some say first year others say not till the second. I appreciate your first hand report.
Do you think my window would be bright enough? The suns only really direct in the evening, the rest of the time it's just bright. Do worry about the dates, I never seem to right those things down........

Thanks,
Steve

Mine definitely flowered first-year... March of last year was when I really started getting interested in gardening, and ordered seeds from a few places. My plant started flowering in December.

In colder weather, it may very well take 2 years to get one to flower, since I'm not sure whether the Pride of Barbados can flower inside...?
And I think your window should be good, although I have to say I'm not experienced with houseplants; alot of our landscaping consists of what Northerners' consider to be houseplants, LOL ;)

Happy to be of assistance,
~Gina

If it flowers or not indoors doesn't really matter, as long as I can pull it through the winter..........but if it did flower that would be a great bonus :D My seeds were just ordered yesterday and should be coming next week! If I can still start them this month, maybe I can still squeak in some flowers late this year courtesy of global warming. I've never grown tropicals from seed really except for impatiens(which mostly failed) and sensitive plant.
It must be fun to garden with tropical plants! I do..........a little..............but they have to be hauled in and out....

Invasives are no fun! That seems to be half the work with gardening..........keeping out the plants we don't want!
If you want you can come and take our snow! Free of charge :D

Steve

could anyone out there tell me about propagating pink and red Jatrophas...we had really bad weather (cold) for about 10 days...these big plants were put on the front porch and covered with sheets. For propagation purposes, should I cut them back now and wait for new foliage to propagate with cuttings?

Hi

I have several potted caesalpinias grown from seed last summer, overwintering in my 9b balcony. It has been a very mild winter so far and lows haven't dropped below 38F (mostly between 43-55F), but still my seedlings have lost most of their leaves, which I consider natural...Now, I've red that they should be trimmed to the ground during winter but I'm not sure if I should treat them this way. Any advice?

Thanks.

Basilio, If they were mine I wouldn't trim them unless they were atleast a few years old.....but thats just me.....I don't even have any yet so I don't really know. But thanks for pointing out that the leaves drop off, so if that happens I won't panic!

Bettygail, Sorry I don't know anything about Jatrophas, maybe someone who does will come along.

Steve

Betty--you might want to start a new thread with your Jatropha question, since this thread was about a different plant the Jatropha experts may not see your question, but if you make a new thread then they'll be sure to notice it.

Basilio,
Sorry, LOL- I don't have any experience with frosts!

But I found some info for you here (or is this where you had read about cutting them down? Sorry to be redundant if it is): http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/caesalpinia_pulcherrima.htm

It seems to me that you don't need to cut it down in zone 9b, unless you'd like to...

~Gina

Thanks Gina and SW...the link is very helpful. I don't actually need to cut it down, I was just wondering if that was the appropriate way to deal with it during winter, although the plant is obviously doing fine, even with the loss of its leaves. It's a sure bet that it's going to come back strong next spring, no doubt about it, so maybe I'll skip the trim... Thanks again :)

This message was edited Jan 22, 2007 1:15 AM

This message was edited Jan 22, 2007 1:15 AM

You're welcome! :)
~Gina

Thanks for the link Gina, it was good to read.
I'm already looking forward to next years summer when I can hopefully get some blooms!
The plant looks quite attractive though even without blooms.

Happy Gardening,
Steven

This message was edited Jan 21, 2007 9:38 PM

Gina, I went to the toptrop link and was amazed that they charge so much for seed. I have a yellow and the pink and I end up throwing away seeds every few months since I don't know what to do with them. Maybe I should email them and see if they are in the market for some yellow, since they already have the pink.

By the way-my experience is that the orange blooms first, followed closely by the yellow, but, the pink seems to bloom late fall (for me at least). I try and keep them dead headed because they will rebloom.

Dale_a_gardener: Please, Please, can I have some of your seeds?? Oh, don't throw them out, I have been wanting to try my hand at this plant since first seeing a photo of it on DG when I joined a couple of months ago!

Love your photo! I didn't even know they came in different colors ... the only posting I saw was pink!

Lin

Dale,
Before I found DG, I had ordered seeds from TopTropicals... yes, they are way too pricey!

LOL, I think you should set up your own little business selling those seeds.

By the way, they sell red/orange, yellow and pink; I had ordered pink from them, but they bloomed yellow, lol. They did send me pink when I pointed out to them that I had ordered pink instead. :)~
I guess they just sell them at different times... because now they are selling yellow (C. lutea), which is the kind I have, and so they must have had them way back when I ordered the pink, yet for some reason they just weren't selling yellow then.

That's interesting that they bloom at different times; I wonder if it will be the same down here? I plan on having all 3 colors if I can find the room. :)

~Gina

Lin, you will get some snail mail in a couple days.

Gina, I have more business than I can handle. As a gardener for hire I can't keep up with the demand and am always turning down jobs. I find it hard to get some free time into my schedule. Lucky me.

Here is one recent reward.

Dale: I'm getting mail?! Please, Please, tell me you had seeds of the Pride of Barbados tree!?? If that is what my snail mail contains, I am so excited! I can't wait to try to grow this plant! Do you want something in trade? Any particular plants you are interested in? Any favorites?

NICE PHOTO .... Is that garden your handiwork? Is that your home? Really, Really nice! I love those impatiens ... one of my favorite shade loving plants!

Lin

Lin, yes seeds and no not my home. One of my jobs. This my home....

Love it Dale .... Looks like you really have the "Green Thumb". What is in the large hanging basket there and what is the vine with little yellow flower's on the right?!

Nice Growing!

Lin, it is Thunbergia alata. It didn't work out. Like all Thunbergia it grew massive amounts of foilage and very few flowers. I replaced it with a grape vine, a very tasty black seeded muscadine.

Back to the topic...

Steven, I have grown Caesalpinia to flowering size in 9 months, but, we have very warm conditions. You should start your seed as soon as you can, give the plant as much full sun and warmth as possible. Nick the seed lightly, I use a file from the shop. Soak in water until the seeds swells, start with very warm water, try to use melted/heated snow or rain water. Change the water once or twice a day until the seed gets fat, then plant it about 1/2" deep and cover the container with clear plastic. Remove the plastic as soon as you see sprouting. I have learned to pinch the plant every 6-8" to make it bushy (and more flower clusters) or let it go unpinched for a column form. I would suggest you start with a small, deep container (like a rose pot) and move it up to a larger one every couple months. It can take alot of heat. If you place it outside in the summer try and place it near a south facing wall, temp below 60* will slow its growth. I have seen it bloom in a #1 (1 gal) container at local nurseries, but, the flower cluster were small. It should put on a good fall show in a 10" container.

Here is a palm that I have seeds from. It does well in containers, called the Xmas palm, Adonidia, has bright red fruit (dates) around the winter soltice.

For planting purposes I wish I lived in Florida. Dale I have some of the pink seeds too. I have not started them yet but I will tonight. We have the orange and red growing all over here in the desert but I am told the pink is very
difficult to grow. How long does germination normally take?

Thanks Dale! I'll be sure to do that, we have a black paved area next to our patio that in the blazing sun all day all summer, that should probably do the trick. I also have a couple large plastic containers I'll put them in, they're atleast 10", I think a bit bigger.
Right now I'm still waiting for my seeds to arive.........

Steven

Marie, Since they grow wild here we don't think of them as difficult. Desert conditions are not something I am familiar with, but, I know they don't need huge amounts of water to grow well.

The key to getting any hard coat seed to sprout is a nick on the side of the seed, exposing some of the white, just a small amount. That lets water in, to get things going. Tempature is of equal importance, they have to be kept warm, even at night 70-75. Soaking the seed in warm water speeds things up too, but, not for too long, just until they soften, 1-3 days max, otherwise they will rot.

Here is a tropical Alstromeria that I am trying to grow from seed, should bloom in a couple years.

They grow wild there? I really do need to live in a different climate!! I am going to nick and soak a couple od seeds tonight. Then I will say my prayers and wait and see what happens. My guess is they need alot of humidity too. We rarely have any except during our short monsoon. I have to try though.
That Alstromeria is beautiful!

So here I am a year later and I FINALLY got Pride of Barbados to sprout! This was my third or fourth attempt and I finally got it right!
I have seeds for both the pink and orange, I haven't started the orange yet so I still have to do that.....according to some of the posts it blooms earlier, so I better get started!

Steven

Congratulations Steven!! I still have not attempted it yet!!

Thanks Marie! I just got the orange ones nick'd and into a damp coffee filter. I'm going to compare their growth and see if one is more vigorous then the other, my guess would be the orange might grow faster, but I'll have to wait and see :) It's terribly exciting though! I can't wait :)

Steven

is this a caesalpinia?

It is, thats the orange one I'm starting! Isn't it amazing?

I have a pink one I started last year. They are SUPER hard to keep happy. It's maybe 6 inches tall right now, loses it's leaves at the drop of a hat, grows them back then loses them again!!

NOOOOOOO!!! Please don't say that, I've been trying so hard to start them :) It does sound like a real fuss fart though......Maybe the orange one is easier? Lets hope so!

Steven

Sorry :))

I figure as long as I can just keep it alive until I can put it outside in the heat I'm doin good.

Steve I am currently trying to over winter the ones I started last year. They lost all their leavves and one died back to the dirt, I don't know if it will come back or not. I do know that I wished I had been able to start them sooner, none of them flowered. One is still about 6 inches, one is 8 and one is about 18 in. Other than this happening I found them easy to germinate and start growing.

Dale you say that Xmas palm flowers and is good in a container. I like it, I will have to go see if I can find it somewhere or find some seeds.

Thanks

I hate to sound like I'm bragging, but these things are weeds in our yard in Vieques. They grow wherever they're allowed to.

(grumble)

Zone envy here!!

If I could, I would probably brag about it.

Hello. I have these seeds to trade. I have the less common Caesalpinia pulcherimma that is a red flower with a white fringe. It comes up true to seed. Trying to keep up with all that's been posted here.....you do realize that it can be quite thorny if planted in its happy zone? Also, in regard to the jatropha questions.......I can answer that too. Yes, you should wait for Jatropha to make new shoots and then air layer later in the season. Jatropha get to be almost a stick in winter- I treat them like crape myrtle in terms of when it flowers and when to cut it back. We keep it around because the butterflies love it. I have a 12' one out front, and I just can't bare to remove it even though its not really an evergreen specimen for the front of the house. But when we sit outside and bird watch the butterflies are part of the action, too!