Re: Plant people and plants in Lady Walton's Garden
- Subject: Re: Plant people and plants in Lady Walton's Garden
- From: d* f*
- Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 10:27:11 -0700 (PDT)
--- Lee Poulsen <wlp@ampersand.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> wrote:
> I've never seen any flowering Delonix regia in
> Southern California
> inland areas or in Palm Springs, but perhaps I never
> happened to
> drive past where they were growing when in bloom.
> However, I've seen
> a number of trees of it blooming in the small
> fishing town of San
> Felipe, Baja California, south of Yuma, Arizona on
> the coast of the
> Sea of Cortez.
Lee,
I have to admit that I have not actually seen Delonix
blooming in L.A. either, but have it on good authority
from my nurseryman friend Gary Hammer that there are
some in Montebello as well as out in the desert that
are growing and do bloom. As to how well they bloom,
somehow I suspect that they aren't nearly as showy as
they are in a more suitable climate. I suspect that
San Felipe is probably a much better fit, although
speaking from limited experience,(I was only there
once during a rather chilly March), that they would do
quite well there. Mango trees apparently are easier,
as there is someone in Modesto that has a small tree
located between the narrow side yard of two houses
that regularly sets fruit! It must be the summer heat
and somewhat enclosed microclimate, as they just seem
to sulk along the coast, even at the Quail Botanic
Garden and inside the greenhouse at UC Santa Cruz,
where both trees I saw seemed to suffer mightily from
bug infestations and lack of vigor. I remember what
they should look like, as in Belem, Brazil, where they
were probably 80 feet tall by wide, and often used as
street trees for their dense shade.
> Three or four years ago I gave my
> aunt and uncle a
> couple of seedlings of it to plant on the vacation
> property they have
> down there that they have a 99-year lease on. So far
> they are growing
> quite well. It gets quite hot in the summertime, and
> is rather cool
> in the winter. But I don't know how often they get
> freezing weather
> of any kind, if at all. Mango trees seem to do just
> fine there as
> well. (However, on the way back from lunch today by
> a different
> route, I was surprised to see a healthy looking
> approx. 15-20 foot
> tall mango tree in the middle of someone's yard here
> in Pasadena!)
>
> --
> --Lee Poulsen
> Pasadena area, California, USDA Zone 9-10
> wlp@radar-sci.jpl.nasa.gov
>
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