and colibri do you know this plants hardiness? would it be hardy near dallas? i got a baby plant one year that didn't come back. lot of variables so don't really know why. maybe if i planted a bigger plant and mulched it then it might come back?
Where have all the hummers gone?
Here's the DG's plant file http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/38374/ . It says that it's hardy to zone 9. I'm in the lower part of zone 8. Here, my tree loses it's leaves with the first freeze and leafs out again in spring. I also grow the Erythrina Herbacea (Coral Bean). It does the same as the Cry Baby Tree but it come back from the roots and only flowers in spring. It's a shrub and not a tree. Perhaps if you kept a smaller one in a pot in a greenhouse or other protected area over winter and planted it out the following spring, you may have better luck. Hope this helps.
Colibri
ok so this is not the same as the coral bean tree? shrub? plant?
Coral Bean is Erythrina herbacea, so it's related, but not the same species.
Is this the one with thorns? Almost Eden has one available. I looked for one a couple of years back but someone said that it had thorns.
Coral Bean shrub and Cry Baby tree have small thorns. The thorns they do have are small and wide spread on the branches, NOT like Roses or Blackberries. They can be aggrevating though. When my Cry Baby was smaller, my DH could get mad and threaten to cut it down if it grabbed him one more time while cutting the grass. I thought I had a picture but don't. I'll try to take one later. At present, it's being swallowed by a Morning Glory.
My Coral Bean only blooms in the spring. The seeds it produces is a beautiful red but poisonous.
The following are some useful links.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2724/
http://hort.ufl.edu/shrubs/ERYHERA.PDF
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ERHE4
This one shows the seed...
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/bio406d/images/pics/fab/erythrina_herbacea.htm
the birds prob. love that thorny tree. sure wish it was hardy here. i love red blooms.
FOUND ONE!!! WHOOHOO! When you added the link, I saw that it was also called Fireman's Cap, and I thought I remembered seeing it once at Joshua's Native Trees and Plants. They had two kinds and both had small thorns at the base of the leaf on the underside, but when it grows up that won't matter.
I was told that the first variety he showed me was the original Fireman's Cap. It was smaller in a small pot for $6.99. Then he had a hybrid form that was the same variety as this huge tree they had growing out front. I've admired that tree forever, and I've never seen it without blooms. The trunk is thick and gray like an elephant's leg and it was about 15 ft. tall. I decided that I had to have that one. It's tag says Erythrina Bidwillii. It was bigger in a bigger pot and so $14.99. I bought the smallest one and the only one without buds. It had a thicker trunk though and seemed more upright. Anyway, I'm very excited. I can't wait for it to grow up.
I wish I'd brought my camera so I could have taken a pic of their tree. Thanks for turning me on to this fab tree!
Interesting. Apparently, it's a hybrid between the two species, E. herbacea and E. crista-galli!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56753/
Still not very cold hardy, but very pretty!
Congratulation Elphaba...The folks on Humnet mailling list always talk well of E. Bidwillii. I wish I could find room for one but I think DH would have a fit. Everyone that comes to my back yard always wants to know what that tree is. It is striking in bloom. I would love to see a picture of E. Bidwillii. Please please take a picture.
Mamajack...I'm in zone 8. I don't see any reason why you can try to grow the Cry Baby tree there.
BTW...I'm starting to see a pick up in hummer activity. My Cry Baby tree is going through another flush of blooming.
Colibri
colibri you are 8b though. doesn't seem like it would be that big of a deal but i guess it is.
Hey...do you want some seeds to try? Maybe we can trade something. With seeds, you won't be out of anything but time.
If you start seeds now, I wouldn't plant them out until next spring. The following fall/winter, I would mulch well. It should survive the winter and come back from the roots.
Colibri
Regarding zones... I don't think it is that big a deal. Zones are based on the average low temperature. For 8a, the average low is 10F, and for 8b, it's 15F. So a plant rated for 8b will survive in 8a as long as 8a's temps stay at or above 8b's average low (15 F).
I don't know about 8b, but it's been several years since my neck of the woods had temps down to 10. I think it's been a few years since we even got down to 15.
We haven't gotten below 25 in many many years. I remember when my dad first moved here from Houston. We had some winters in the late 70's early 80's when it got below 20 and stayed there for a few days. For you folks up north that was really big news. But it just doesn't get that cold here anymore. I grew up in Houston and can remember it getting that low there too. But of course, I was young and that's when all the dinosaurs died out. lol
Here in Louisiana's side of zone 8b...we haven't gotten below 20 in many years either. When we do, it's also a big deal.
My friend and neighbor had flies visiting her hummer feeder. Some drowned or whatever and died clogging it up. Soooo, she hung sticky fly traps near it ... really dumb, huh? You guessed it! She caught a hummer. It was almost dead. After removing the trap using baby oil, she gently cleaned the hummer who was missing lots off feathers, placed it in a box and kept offering it the sugar water. After 30 minutes, it revived and flew away. So, if I see a bald hummer, I know it is the one that had been visiting her yard.
WOOOO !!! what a story . I read that one way to keep bees and wasps away from the hummer feeder is to put Vicks Vapor rub on the bottom of the container,,, hummers can't smell it but bees and wasps can.
Don't know about flies ????
jana
Oh...that poor little hummie! What a traumatic thing to go through.
Hate that hummer story! Glad the hummer was OK though. I'm so afraid that I'm going to do something like that!
Colibri, went to Joshua's today and took a pic of their E. Bidwillii tree for you. Unfortunately, the best angle to show the tree was not so good with the sun, but here it is anyway.
Here's a close-up of the bloom.
WOW...thanks for the picture. The leaves and flowers look like Erythrina Herbacea (Coral Bean) and not like the E. Crista Galli at all. I'd never seen one. I'd heard plenty of talk about E. Bidwillii on Humnet but never saw one. Coral Bean is more of a shrub here in zone 8b. E. Bidwillii looks more like a tree like the Cry Baby tree (E. Crista GallI).
Colibri
Elphaba, does the tree have any seeds? I would love to get my hands on some. OR...does anyone know if the seeds come true since it's a hybrid between the two species, E. herbacea and E. crista-galli? I haven't seen any around here either but then I haven't really searched. I'm willing to do a trade if possible.
Colibri
I read that it doesn't produce seeds. There's one entry in the plant guide talking about seeds and one picture of them, but I think those entries were incorrectly included in the E. Bidwillii file and should have been in E. Crista Galli. The leaf in the pic looks more like E. Crista Galli.
OH....too bad!