The wonderful, fabulous, "Pride of Barbados"

The picture in the header at the top of my page is called 'Pride of Barbados', and is a member of the pea family.

The botanical is 'Caesalpinia pulcherrima', and it is a native of the West Indies. It likes a hot and humid climate. It is an excellent specimen plant or a wonderful addition in a mixed border. It grows easily from seeds, and they are found in large, dark brown bean pods after flowering. (Note- Seeds from tropicals usually require a temperature of 70 degrees to germinate.)

The bloom is usually orange-red, with gold on the edge, and very long red stamens. There are also forms which bloom yellow, and also red.

'Pride of Barbados' will grow to 5-8' in a season, even after freezing to the ground the previous winter. It will return dependably in zones 8 and 9.

This plant is either going to be named as a Texas Super Star, or has already been named such. I know it is definitely a star in my garden!

a rose, by any other name....

Oh, wait! This is not a rose....

This is what we call 'bulbine'. The American Horticulture Encyclopedia of Plants calls it 'Bulbinella'. Whatever, it is still a marvelous plant.

It is native to S. Africa and New Zealand. The leaves are kind of thick, like an aloe vera, or a succulent of some sort. It blooms orange or yellow. The orange flowered plant seems to be the tougher of the two, but the yellow grows much taller, and much more elegant.

It seems to like whatever conditions you give it, but it doesn't like real cold weather.

Supposedly, you can grow this from seed, but I have not found seeds yet. Perhaps because I have not looked for seeds. Who would suspect you could harvest seeds from a succulent?

At any rate, you can propagate by division.

Very worthwhile, in my opinion.

The prettiest YELLOW flower....

This is THE prettiest, most vibrant flower in the garden. The prettiest yellow one.......

This is a Native of Texas called Esperanza. I think it was Greg Grant who saw the potential and went to work to put this plant in every nursery in Texas. It blooms like this most of the year.

It grows easily from seed or can be grown from cuttings. It will easily reach a height of 8 feet, blooming profusely for most of the way.

There is also an orange Esperanza, but it doesn't have the flash that the yellow one has. There is just something about this yellow flower that shouts "I'm happy! Be happy!".

And who could look at that flower and not be happy?