Local conditions may also be hindering it from flowering — for example too much shade or damage from insects or possums. I may have missed the ones on ours as they were way at the top of the branches and hard to see. Cheers Jennifer. We have been avidly growing seeds and planting them all over the ugly Sydney suburb of Randwick to add a bit of colour to those flats and concrete high rise.
Hope they all flower in five years! I have a flame tree that would be 90 years old and this year it is wonderful the best it has event been , I just love it and keep on going outside to look at it. Lucky you Joan!
Would love to see a photo of it — if you have one you can send it to me at GardenDrum. Hi Russell — Illawarra flame tree has a fairly narrow crown for its height.
When grown in the garden it usually gets to about 8m wide but also tends to develop a long trunk, with the lowest branches a long way up. We have a 20 years old Flame Tree brachychiton acerifolius but it never bloomed. I am not sure that a potted Illawarra flame will flower and particularly in your cold climate. They have the habit of dropping leaves in the dry season late winter to early spring and then flowering on bare branches in late spring much like a jacaranda.
Sometimes only one branch or half the tree flowers. Seed grown trees can also be slow to flower. It would be interesting to find out the coldest areas and highest latitudes where the tree has bloomed.
I have four seeds from a flame tree collected from Queensland and would like to try to grow them starting in pots. What sort of soil should I use? Do I have to soak the seeds?
Use gloves. Then sow seeds in a seed-raising mix, lightly buried. We used bottom heat and misting to encourage germination so perhaps use a covered propagation tray such as available at garden centres and hardware stores. Germination may be slower without bottom heat. Prick out into individual small pots. They grow quickly — it is just flowering that can be slow! Bought a house in Northern suburb of Perth — huge block sq metres modest house — but who cares -its double brick so it wont blow over — and im only interested in the garden!
Really interesting block its on 2 levels i find flat blocks boring — and up the back you get sea glimpses — and hear the roar of the waves at night. I rented it for 4 years — only because you were allowed to keep a dog — and then the old spinster put it on the market and i bought it — the last month ive really blitzed the garden — to the tune of — 2 Hicks Fancy Mullberries a Loquat an Almond — 2 Olives — a pomegranate — a meyer lemon — 2 figs — 2 apricot storey — 2 nectarine fantasia — 2 dwarf peach and 2 Jacaranda — and theres many more trees im going to put in.
I put 1 Jacandra — right up the back corner — and i put 1 next to the letter box at the front. I googled evergreen trees in Perth — and a wholesaler had a picture of an illawarra flame tree which i liked — so i typed in that tree and i came to your site — and your magnificent picture of the flame tree next to a Jaccandra has inspired me to put a flame tree next to each Jacandra — truly a beautiful contrast.
It was you planted it; and it grew high and put on crops of leaves, extravagant fans; sheltered in it the spider weaves and birds move through it. For all it grew so well it never bloomed, though we watched patiently, having chosen its place where we could see it from our window-sill.
Now, in its eighteenth spring, suddenly, wholly, ceremoniously it puts off every leaf and stands up nakedly, calling and gathering, every capacity in it, every power, drawing up from the very roots of being this pulse of total red that shocks my seeing into an agony of flower.
It was you planted it; and I lean on the sill to see it stand in its dry shuffle of leaves, just as we planned, these past years feeding it. Hi Jennifer — query-our Illawarra Flame tree has thick deposits of goo on the ground around it and is also being attacked by borer of some sort where a branch was removed -any suggestions? It may be best to seek the opinion of a qualified arborist Michael who can assess and if necessary treat the tree. The tree may need to be injected to control the borer.
They are toxic to many native animals and birds. These trees support and feed a wide range of native animals. The branches offer a safe roosting place for canopy dwelling birds such as the White Headed Pigeon. In turn, insectivorous birds feed off these caterpillars. Planting a few flame trees in your garden will provide habitat for these animals.
Once flowering has finished, the tree produces large black boat-shaped pods stuffed with hairy seeds. Wear gloves if handling them. Photo: Bidgee. Illawarra Flame Tree Go Back. According to Russell Barrett, a systematic botanist at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, the inner bark of flame trees was used by Aboriginal Australians for making string, fishing nets and traps, as well as being a food resource.
Found along the east coast of Australia, the flame tree is relatively common in pockets of subtropical rainforest from the Shoalhaven River on the south coast of New South Wales to Cape York in far north Queensland.
Last year, we posed the question, Jacarandas: icons or pests? The flame tree is often hailed as a good native alternative to the jacaranda tree. However, some gardeners, including Jennifer Stackhouse from GardenDrum, an international gardening magazine, prefer to plant both. When Jennifer moved to the Hawkesbury region, north-west of Sydney, her backyard already had a jacaranda so she decided to add a flame tree, creating a close contrast between the two.
Jennifer planted the flame tree around seven metres from the trunk of the jacaranda hoping that, over time, their branches would mingle. Some recent hybrids involving this species are tolerant of a wider range of climates and soils. The association between jacarandas and flame trees is best linked by that Cold Chisel song though. Close Menu. Facebook Twitter Instagram Instagram Adventure.
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