Carol, the Hong Kong orchid tree is sterol. If you have seedlings it is just an orchid tree, not the Hong Kong orchid. :o)

Yeah, I knew something about that - and I know that the sterile hybrid is the preferred model - but the databases that I searched still call it Hong Kong Orchid Tree. If it is merely Orchid Tree, that's fine, the name doesn't matter to me. Thanks for the help!

Carol

This post was edited by love_the_yard on Mon, Aug 26, 13 at 18:03

You can grow it like you would any seedling, and it should grow like crazy. The seeding varieties flower just as beautifully as the real Hong Kong variety, but many find the big seed pods to be objectionable and messy. They do self-sow prolifically. So of course, you'll have to deal with the "Native Nazis" who scream about anything that's has the potential to be "invasive."

They like the same soil conditions as azaleas and don't like disturbances. I have 2 in understory conditions that you describe. Mine tend to get chlorotic leaves and respond to the same fertilizer you would use for azaleas. I give them some ironite, too. Right now, healthy and happy! This is my experience.

Thank you to all! I think that the trees won't be too much trouble - and definitely not invasive - because Jacksonville gets at least 1-2 hard freezes every winter (and usually more). I hope that will take care of any unwanted plants. I went ahead and transplanted one seedling to a protected area this afternoon and I'll see how it does. I really don't need six more trees in pots but I guess some will be lost over time. Thanks again, everyone!

Carol

I love them. Lawnmower takes care of any that sprout from seed-spitting. Grew one from seed about 7 years ago and it's already 18 feet tall, bloomed second year in ground. It was a seedling about twice as tall as your photo when I placed it in ground. Mixed with nothing but half compost, half 'soil' (our sugar sand) Beautiful flowers December-February

Interesting MsMorningSong. Mine blooms starting in late February and goes through March. It probably has to do with our different zones. Also, there are some years when I get a total bloom, where the leaves fall off and the entire tree is covered with flowers, and other years when the leaves fall off gradually and I get fewer flowers.

The hummingbirds that return in March really love the flowers. I love the fragrance.

I got some of a red variety of Hong Kong Orchid seeds. It is supposed to be more of a large shrub than a tree, I think.

Carol, did you soak your seeds before you planted them? Mine are probably not fresh as yours were lol, since I bought them instead of getting them fresh from the tree. I need to go to the zoo again lol. I haven't been there since they first put in the komodo dragon exhibit and planted all that neat bamboo around the koi pond.

Hi Sultry Jasmine,

No, I just put them directly into the soil. But of course, that was in July when it was hot as blazes and I had just picked up the seeds at the zoo. I actually picked up the seed pods off of the ground and popped the seeds out. Just a little over half of my seeds germinated really, really easily in the hot weather. I think I got seven out of twelve seeds. Those seven came up quickly and the other five never did anything. I hope you have some luck or you are welcome to come get a plant or two from me. :)

Carol in Jacksonville

Now I'm jealous Tom. ;)
We don't get hummingbirds, or at least I've never seen one down here.

There are hummingbirds down there, MsMorningSong. We have them pretty much everywhere in Florida at one time of the year or the other. I remember going to the zoo south of Miami and seeing one in June. I think in southern Florida more of them show up in the winter months. If you plant for them there is a good chance you will see them.

Hummingbirds are most active at dawn and dusk and right after rain.

Here's one of those NOT-a-Hong-Kong-Orchid-Tree seedlings (just a plain Orchid Tree, thank you very much) now, three years later. First blooms! Pretty awesome for Jacksonville, thanks to the mild winter. This was the first time in 15 years that we had NO hard freeze. :)

Here, let me help you find it: It's the tall skinny stick, leaning to the right, in the center of the photo, with a white flower on top.

Kinda fun for north Florida.

Carol in Jacksonville

Pretty!

I really like those, they turned out really pretty! I went to the zoo in Feb. with my dd. The bamboo sure got huge. We went kinda late in the day and some of the animals were off exhibit. We almost got locked in the zoo overnight lol. There was no announcements that it was closing and we were really far from the front gate. When we got to the front they were actually locking the gate lmao!! Good thing we got there when we did. I am gonnna go back later this summer maybe more stuff will be blooming and setting seeds. I'm gonna go early though "D

That is too funny that you almost spent a night at the zoo. You know, probably somewhere there are people who want to do that and would be jealous of you! Good thing you got out. I was running around the track at a high school a few years ago in the late summer afternoon/early evening and was surprised to find that I was locked in by a closed gate/fence. (Surely the "locker" could have seen me running around the track?) Well, the top of the chain-link fence had three rows of razor wire. No one around to help me. I carefully climbed it, verrrry carefully swung one leg over the top, and then - the leg of my spandex running shorts got snagged! I stayed like that for a minute - perched at the top with both arms trembling - but no hands left to unhook! So I finally found the strength to swing the other leg over and ripped a giant hole in the shorts as I dropped down six feet on the other side. Maybe a couple of scratches, too.

Ya, you should go back to the zoo, but early in the day if in summer. To me, the plants alone are worth it. I like that part better than the aminals (spelled that way on purpose). They have some really cool stuff. And there are a lot of lessons (or maybe just one big lesson) in that bamboo display. There is running bamboo that spread under a 24'-wide asphalt road and came up on the other side!

I could swear that the Zoo's orchid trees are pink. When I collected the seeds, in my log I even wrote something about seeds from pink orchid trees. Was surprised when it bloomed white. I have one more that has not bloomed so it will be interesting to see if it is white or pink. Either way, I love it. It has frozen back to the ground every year except this past winter - I have no greenhouse and it is planted in the ground - so this is pretty fun for me.

Carol

Sultry and Carol, you got stories to remember! at least everything went fine for you...

Carol, I think that I got one of those trees and is very tall, I got it as a seedling and it was covered in white blooms recently and now only has one flower and few leaves.

Silvia

That sucked about ripping your pants and having to climb barbed wire lol. My dd and I were wondering what we would do if we got stuck in the zoo overnight. We finally decided against calling 911 and that we would break into the snackbar/restaurant and eat fudge lmao!! No we wouldn't really do that but it was fun thinking about it. There is a sign advertising their 'famous fudge' we saw on the way out. Whats up w their koi pond? They had two and now one is empty of fish and they have a billion huge koi all crammed into the other one. Poor koi.

Silvia, your tree was getting pretty large last year - how is it doing this year?

Hey SJN, do you want some seeds? I've got lots and lots of fresh seed pods - still on the tree. Either send me a GW-mail or an email - I think you still have my email address- with your mailing address.

Carol

Carol, I forgot that I got that tree, somebody that came to the house gave me the seedling, I like the white flowers by my window! it is next to the oak and in front there is another plant that Mark gave me, I see hummers and butterflies going there.

Right now the orchid tree finish blooming and has seed pods....

Silvia

Silvia, I see it in there - looks good! Looks like yours is maybe a year or two ahead of mine.

Very hard to get pictures of these long, thin, spindly things. Here's a close-up of what's going on with mine. New leaves and blooms at the same time. Many say their tree flowers first, then gets a flush of leaves. Mine are doing it all at once.

I believe mine is a White Orchid-Tree (Bauhinia aculeata).

Both of my white orchid-trees froze all the way to the ground this past winter (2018). Vigorously coming back from the roots. Both are about three feet high already - shrub forms now - and covered with white blooms. Worth keeping due to the fast return (unlike other plants... like Ixora, which takes its sweet time... three inches of new growth as of now. It will get yanked when I have time!).

Carol

How cold did it get for you this year, LTY? I have an orchid tree, not a Hong Kong, just an orchid tree and the freezes we had did little damage to it. There were fewer blooms on the outer branches, but other than that the tree did well. I live in Clermont, in zone 9b, close to Syliva. I'm sure our freezes weren't quite as severe as yours. However, I did have major damage to many plants. The worst were the Hamilia Patens. Some were almost 15 feet tall; they died back to the roots. Had to spend major bucks getting the dead branches hauled away.

Hi Tom,

On January 18, 2018 we hit a low of 24.9 F. We were below 32 degrees for approximately 10.5 hours. The next morning we hit a low of 26.3 and were below freezing for a total of 11.5 long hours. So we really had it handed to us good.

I had to look up Hamilia Patens... learned that it is Firebush. Did not know they were so cold sensitive. Are they coming back? Quickly or slowly? Will you keep them? Sounds like they were almost trees (or screening shrubs?) before.

I'm so happy that your Orchid Tree did so well. Both of mine sailed through the two winters prior and were gorgeous. I will enjoy them as shrubs, too. Here's a photo from today. Orchid tree is center-front... it is about three feet tall.

Found these in the grass today... are they weeds? Or could they be orchid tree seedlings? I had orchid tree seed pods galore and put them in all of the flower beds... but nary a seedling in there! But yeaaah... in the yard... sure, they choose to germinate there!

(Or are they weeds?)

Carol in Jacksonville

Hey, Carol. I'm impressed that you know such detail about the freezes. You gotta be one hard-core gardener.

I think the lowest we got here was 27 degrees for most of one night and then the other night was maybe around 29? A few degrees and a few hours can make a significant difference.

The Hamilia Patens or Firebush is quite sensitive to below-freezing temps. What happened with mine is that we hadn't experience such a hard freeze in something like seven years? So the plants just kept on growing, 24-7 every day of the year. They had completely taken over one large portion of my yard that sits in back of the swimming pool. The Firebush is a thug where I live. It has to be worse further south.

I tolerate them only because they produce flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Pretty much all of my plants came back, or tried to, (I have killed off a number of them.)

I don't recognize the leaves that you photographed. They may be from your orchid tree. You might think of looking at other parts of your garden to see if there are more like them. I would be tempted to pull one leaf out to see if it is attached to a fairly developed root structure. Trees usually throw out a pretty extensive root system before they show much greenery on top.

tropicbreezant wrote, "They're not any Bauhinia as they have trifoliate leaves."

Oh, I see what you mean! I scrolled back to my first post at the top and the leaves are different than the (now presumed) weeds in the yard. I was going to spend time lifting and nurturing these... so glad you saved me from it!

Thank you!

Carol

Tom,

Thanks for the reply. I only know temps via two sources: 1) wunderground - the best! (and includes history), and 2) I keep a file called "Freezing Temps at my House" (LOL) because it seems like every now and again, I want the info and so I started putting it in a simple text file.

I saw a hummingbird in my yard today. I have a few varieties of salvia, heirloom/butterfly pentas, and a few other tasty treats for them.

The weeds are far away from the orchid trees so I knew they weren't part of the root system. But now I know they aren't orchid trees, either. So glad I didn't waste time on those!

Carol

Hi Carol

I did not made any comment before because I don't have the orchid tree anymore. Not because the freezes in my area like Tom said, there are so many orchid trees kind of wild around the trail, that any day I can pick up seeds from them if I decide it to grow them again.

This year, I keep repeating myself less is more and unless the plant looks really good in the area planted or serves a purpose, I take it out.

So far it is working well for me, more time to enjoy the flowers and the harvests and trips.

Silvia

Silvia, you are wise! And to a more-or-less extent, I have begun to do the same thing. Step one: stop buying plants. I did that with the exception of bromeliads - and then, only a few - because I know I will want to buy some every year. Step two: remove (or allow to die) plants that aren't performing. Step three: enjoy what remains! For the past two years or so - and really only that long - I have been filling my yard with offsets/pups of what I already have and things that do well for me. I used to have over 150 different kinds of plants (all catalogued on a spreadsheet). I'm down to probably 1/3 or 1/4 of that - and now have many, many more repeat plantings of the same plant.

The orchid trees get to stay as long as they come back from the roots as quickly as they did and already have blooms on them (the one not pictured above)... and you're right - if you know where an Orchid Tree is, the seeds are everywhere! (I got my seed pods at the Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens.)

Where is your next trip? Do you have one planned? I love living vicariously through your photos!

Carol

Carol, you have a great plan! it is not only therapeutic to have less but cheaper. I am down to 2 categories, the most important is for food since I always grown my own and the second is for plants that I enjoy looking at.

And when I need to see a lot of varieties of plants, I can always go to the botanical gardens.:)

I live happy planning little trips and not so little and hope that I can make them all. There is always something in the horizon, my wish list is long....you will find out soon....

Silvia

Carol, I admire you having all your plants categorized and on a spreadsheet. I keep saying I'm going to do that, but I never do.

Silvia, had to laugh at the "less is more" thing. I have a real problem throwing cuttings and seeds away. I'm totally addicted to propagation. I'm trying hard to get away from that, because I have no more room to put things. If I was staying here, I would dig up the whole hill in front of the apartment and terrace it for more gardens.

Deb, Carol is very organized! good quality to have. She is also a great teacher!

On the less is more category, I truly enjoy downsizing and keep things to a minimum, giving clothing and other things away to charities makes me feel happy and light. I can never be a hoarder of any kind, maybe just spices for cooking.:) and not forgetting seeds, but to my benefit I use them all so in my mind is a necessity.:)

Thanks to you both, but far too much credit given. The spreadsheet is a thing of the past. In the end, it was becoming a colossal time-waster. One area of the spreadsheet was a list of plants in strikeout font (font that has a line through it). Those were the plants I no longer had (died, tore out, etc.). That area was becoming longer than the plants I still had!

I really enjoy teaching to anyone who is interested in gardening. A few weeks ago, I tore out an entire patch of flax lilies and posted them for free. I had them in a cardboard box for pickup. A girl came by to get them... she was young and extremely interested in gardening. Never met her before that day. I asked her if she would like to see the garden. We had a ball! She had lots of questions and listened carefully to every answer. She was here for over two hours and went home with an entire car-full of plants! And I bet she will do well with them, too!

Carol