A picture of the tip that is going to bloom.

Smaller cutting by it's self.

Another seedling that will be having flowers this year. I don't know why some of the leaves look so bad but it was under a lot of plants but it has been moved. Another surprise to look forward to what kind, color and shape the flowers will be.

Very interesting. How old are they? And what mother tree do they come from, if you know?

Mima

Hi Mima,

I was tagging them at first and the first and last records I kept were in 2007 and I had 42 Large pink, 6 plastic pink, 9 Japanese Lantern and 18 old seeds pink before I gave up on what was what. Since then I have had seedpods each year at least 1 to 3 and have tried to start them. I was also ordering cuttings and would have trouble rooting them but do better now.I was crossing and adding on my list all of the time. I can tell which ones I grow from seeds but have no idea what is what. But it is always fun for something to blooming for the first time. As soon as they do bloom for the first time I do tag it and put seedling, color and size. And take a lot of pictures. Since I have a lot of flowers this year and seem to have lots of bees and wasps in my yard I wonder how many seedpods I will have by the first of the year. Don't know if you saw the picture of the largest seedpod I ever had so am posting it again. Barb
p.s. This is my youngest grandson who helps me and the seedpod was a plastic pink.

Wow, that's a huge seedpod! Can you remember the average seedlings age for first blooming?

Thank you Barb.

Mima

Hi Mima,

The first seedlings just started blooming last year, with two of them. This year I already had two bloom and have 3 more to go. I did have one that bloomed after 3 or 4 years but most are taking at least 7 or more years but I have also had cuttings that have taken this long. The one that bloom after 3 or 4 years has really large flowers about 4 inches across and so far is my favorite. Here is a picture of that one. The one last year was pink and dark red. This year so far I got a small white one and the one in the picture.

Hi Barb!!!

Are you sure those aren't "antlers.." ;-)

Those are the biggest seed pods I have ever seen!!

Monster pods... Great job!!!

Laura

Hi Laura,

That was the biggest one I ever saw also but we had a great time opening it and we made little boats and a lot of the seeds are now growing in my backyard. So anything can come up. I like to get a surprise but you never know what it will be. On that note, my oldest grandson was helping someone trim some plants and dropped off a large branch with 4 long tips tonight. He said that the person had got it in Hawaii and it was growing close to a palace and someone had given them the cutting a long time ago. This is a red one but have no idea what it's name is so it will be tagged as a red and will just have to wait until it blooms. I hate to start them this late, do better when I start them in Feb, March and April but made 5 cuttings out of it and will pot it up tomorrow. Barb

Barb,

Wow that seed pods is crazy huge! Lol.

I can't wait to see your seedlings bloom! Thank you for sharing!

You were not kidding about ugly shape! Still, the foliage looks very pretty from the top. Interesting that it's taking at least 7 years for most of your seedlings to bloom. sigh. I guess I have a few more to go for most of mine then. And some are already HUGE for being less than three years old.

I do love the white seedling you have, Barb. It's a great looking flower, and the fact that it blooms so small really makes it a winner!

Hi Barb!!!

You must have had a whole ocean full of "boats" with that huge baby!!!

Seriously, that is one seed pod that needs to go into the "book" of huge pods!!!

We can't wait to see more pics.. Thanks for sharing.

The other pics look good too. Looking forward to seeing your blooms!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Laura

Beautiful blooms! I bet they smell nice too.

Mima