Erythrina Species, Fireman's Cap, Shrub Coral Tree

Houston, Zone 9. Have grown in group of 5 trees. Survived several days of freezing weather in 2009. Much new growth dies, so I cut back t...Read Moreo 9'-10' bare trunks in winter dormancy. If I don't, tree will not bloom as much or show vitality. Poor air flow if new and old growth share the space. Thorns will cause skin irritation. I've removed them from trunks. Also easily break off shoots by hand that sprout along trunk periodically. Heavy ice split one trunk at crown division once, but did not affect remaining trunk. It's a total winner in my yard. Will seek to add photos.

I grow this plant on the south side of my house. It dies back in the winter but grows quickly after sprouting late in the spring. Hummi...Read Morengbirds love it and it blooms constantly from May until frost. It is still blooming today Oct 21. For attracting hummers and constant bloom this is a great plant. Gets about 8 feet tall for me and as wide. Do not fall into it as it has great big thorns. Is virtually sterile so it does not produce the poisonous seeds of some Erythrina species.

Have grown this in 24" plastic pot for 3 years in Zone 8a. Beautiful plant and blooms constantly until our first freeze. Grows in full s...Read Moreun, with no protection in open area. Only care is daily (or at least every other day) watering in summer, weekly in winter. josh

The flowers are the most amazing and intense red that you can imagine, the pictures I have taken to share w/ friends do not begin to do j...Read Moreustice to this beautiful tree!

This plant is spectacular; has spiny branches and stems, and brilliant green leaves formed by three oval-shaped pinnutes. The flowers lo...Read Moreok like waxen sweet peas. It is a very large shrub in full sun in average well-drained soil. Seeds form in a pod like peas and may be collected when dry and split open. Propagation is also by cuttings, in warmth, in spring. It is cut down by frost but returns in spring even more vigorous.

shrubby relatively hardy horticultural cross with dark scarlet flowers in mid summer.

Erythrina x bidwillii, according to several sources, a sterile hybrid between E. crista-galli and E. herbacea, does not produce viable se...Read Moreed. Perhaps as a result of sterility, it channels more energy into blooming. In my experience with it in Central Texas, it freezes back in the winter but quickly recovers, producing new basal shoots a few weeks after a hard freeze. I have seen this plant bloom intermittently throughout the warm seasons. It produces recurved thorns on both stem and leaf spine (rachis). Few plants produce such a striking red flower -- shaped approximately like a lipstick. It also tolerates 100 degree (f) heat -- very important in Central Texas.