What is the proper conditions for these seedlings? I fear one plant is a gonner (very dried) but the other still has some soft new growth on it.

I have them outside in small 4" pots. I have them in what should be a sunny location (except it has rained for 2 weeks straight so very little sun anywhere!).

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Carolyn

So you let the soil dry out completely before watering? I find it odd that these grew like gangbusters and now have stalled out - I must be missing something.

Do you think I should perhaps fertilize them with something?

I had another seedling that got really wet with all the rain and it looked like he might not make it. I gave it to someone else, so I don't know if drying it out worked or not. I feel sure it was too much moisture that did it.

You didn't mention the size pot them where in, regardless make sure the tap root has room to grow. I would plant them outside in a protected area in your z7 and hope they survive. They will not survive in a pot regardless of the size.

They spent most of the winter on the sunny window sill in the kitchen, but on warm days they were faithfully carried outside and then back in when it got cooler in the evenings. Two of them made it through to spring and then up and died! One of them got too dry on a hot day, but the other bigger one had no excuse.

I ordered more - from Canada of all places - and waited until warm weather to plant them. PoB's love hot weather. I've noticed the established red and yellow ones wait until late spring to start growing.

I now have six plants that are doing well in four inch pots and just planted six more seeds which are starting to peep up from the soil. I haven't fertilized them nor do I fertilize the red ones since I figured most pea like plants set their own nitrogen. When they get a little bigger I'll tranplant to larger pots and then into the ground later in the year.

I don't know why yours seem to be declining, but the thought occured that maybe it was because of the cool nights we had for a few days as well as the lack of sunshine you mentioned.

I wish you well with your seedlings If you lose them and most of mine make it maybe we can do a trade of some sort.

I'll plant it out and hope for the best...

I just tipped the soil out of the 4 inch pot to look at the root system of the robust seedlings I have now (I was surprised at how warm the soil felt) and saw only one little root had reached the bottom. I'm going to wait until there are a few more roots to hold the soil together before transfering to a larger pot.

Equincpa, several of the web sites say they can be grown in a pot. I've grown plants of the same family in a pot. Nurseries sell them in a pot. I've dug up Pride of Barbados to pass around and broken off most of the roots and they have survived. You just have to cut back the tops by half or more when you do that.

So I think you can manage to grow them in a large pot and carry the pot with the dormant plant roots into a cool place during the zone 7 winter. Here in San Antonio the red and yellow Pride of Barbados dies to the ground in winter and don't start coming up until the ground is well warmed.

You could plant it in the ground now and maybe put a little barrier around it like a cut open gallon milk jug to keep something like cut worms from eating it.

Maybe there is someone here from zone 7 who grows the red and yellow Pride of Barbados to tell you how they handle them.

Happy zone-stretching Barbados gardening! Let us know how yours does and I will do the same.

Pam

Claud, I agree with the posters on the other thread. I think you could go ahead and plant your Pride of Barbados in the ground now.

I'd dearly love to trade for the Yellow Pride of Barbados (Caesaplinia pulcherrima) like this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33623636@N08/3697611330/

I don't need either of these:

Desert Bird of Paradise, Yellow Bird of Paradise
Caesalpinia gilliesii
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2120/

Mexican Bird of Paradise, Mexican Poinciana
Caesalpinia mexicana
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57631/

If Caesaplinia pulcherrima is not the one you have to offer we'll figure something else out :-)

Barbra, I bought the seeds for the pink pride of Barbados on line. Half a dozen seeds were about four dollars plus postage. When they bloom next year we'll know for sure if they will in fact BE pink. There was some discussion a while back on the Florida forum where not all were coming true pink with the white borders that the pictures showed. I'd be happy to trade with you, but perhaps you'd rather wait until summer when we see for sure what color these will be unless you feel like gambling :-) What ever is okay. BTW, did you get my email in reply to the one you sent to me through GW?

This is what the ones in the ground look like. They are about knee high:

The six that still in pots are smaller.

In zone 7 they might need some extra protection. I'm not sure since I'm in zone 8 or maybe even 9 now. Maybe someone from a cooler zone can tell us how to overwinter Pride of Barbados in that zone. It might help if they knew what city or county you were in too.