Where in Southeast Asia did you take this pic?

Ochna integerrima-Vietnamese Mickey Mouse plant?

Trini's right-it's what the Vietnamese call 'mai-vang'. Just a guess, but the pictures look like they were taken in Hanoi.

Marcelo

Thank you Trini. The photos were taken in Saigon, Vietnam, in the Lunar New Year 2006. The plants in heavy blooms were every where on the streets. Some of them have 5 petals, some have 8, but the prettiest one has 12. I wish I could bring one home. I broght some last year dry seeds, and geminated them. But there's nothing coming out yet. Does anyone see one here? There's a nursery here, they have the grafted tree, with a few young leaves, but no one can gurantee it will survive despite of the extremely high price.

In case you're wondering - it's called Mickey Mouse plant because the shape of the fruit looks like Mickey's nose. It has nothing to do with the lovely yellow flowers !

Oh... I LOVE it! Are the fruits edible? And how long does it bloom? It's beautiful.

There is a shrub version of this plant that is perfectly hardy here in California also called Mickey Mouse Plant, Ochna serrulata. It has smaller versions of these flowers, and tends to bloom with evergreen foliage, and does form interesting fruit. It originally comes from South Africa. I don't know about the hardiness of your plant in question, but would suspect that it would want more heat than coastal California gets to bloom well, and may not like out longer wetter winters, (isn't it the dry season in winter in Saigon?). I bet this is one of those subtropicals that would prefer South Florida to southern California. Maybe check to see if they are growing this at Quail Botanic Garden in Encinitas, the Huntington in San Marino, or the Zoo in San Diego...

If you want a subtropical tree that has the same color beautiful late winter/early spring flowers, blooms without foliage, and does well in SoCal, I'd suggest Tabebuia chrysotricha, blooming right now...

Out of curiousity, is the Buttercup Tree (Cochlospermum vitifolium) a popular tree in southern CA?

Unfortunately Cochelospermum isn't hardy or adapted to our cool wet winters and lack of summer night time heat along the coast, and where it does warm up enough, it is too cold in winter for it to do well here. I will now probably here from someone who is able to grow it somewhere in southern California, but it certainly isn't sold commercially in the nursery trade here.

This is interesting. Bahia, I'm also very curious -are there actually any Tabebuia species that will do well in the San Francisco area? I imagine they would need abundant summer heat.

Marcelo

Marcelo,
Yes, there are at least 3 varieties of Tabebuia that do quite well here in the San Francisco Bay Area. T. chrysotricha is in full bloom right now, I have several planted out here in the Berkeley hills in full bloom right now, and also one right on the bay in Alameda, which is not as far along, but also budded up with flowers. T. impetiginosa, lavender flowered is also grown here, and is known to repeat bloom after the first spring flush. This is less commonly planted out, but both these species grow and bloom here, and will easily handle our normal temperature range, and can also be grown in the inland valley areas such as Walnut Creek, (there are very floriferous mature trees of both at the Ruth Bancroft Garden). There is also a hybrid of these two species, more commonly seen in SoCal.

I would have to admit that they flower even more profusely where spring is warmer and there is more accumulated heat, so that I generally try to plant these in protected courtyards or against south/west facing buildings for best bloom. They are unusual enough here in the SF Bay Area that most people don't know them, I love the taste of the tropics they bring to a spring garden here in Berkeley. We also have Hymenosporum flavum in full bloom here, and a Delostoma roseum tree in a client's garden is so fully budded up that the next couple of weeks should be spectacular,(this one blooms nearly all year round for me). Of course, the Brugmansia 'Charles Grimaldi' are so loaded with flowers right now that it seems more like summer than spring, and the trees can be 15 feet tall here. Charles Grimaldi never is out of bloom in my own garden, even in January.

Hi Bahi, could you tell us more about the varieties that do well in the Berkeley hills and where to find them in nurseries? I'm looking for a flowering branch for Tet