The Jamaican Poinsettia is native to Jamaica, and a relative of the Christmas Poinsettia. Unlike the poinsettia you buy at Christmas, this large shrub or small tree, 12-15′, flowers year round. However, like the Christmas Poinsettia, flowering is dependent on no external light sources being present. So, no porch lights or security lights can shine…
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All around South Florida there are large trees blooming with no leaves and large showy pink blossoms. As you get closer to these trees, you will notice large thorns on the trunks and large surface roots. The trees that you are viewing are Silk Cotton or Silk Floss Trees (Chorisia speciosa). A member of the…
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White Bird of Paradise Tree (Strelitzia nicolai) and Orange Bird of Paradise Plant (Strelitzia reginae) are this weeks highlighted plants. I think most people are familiar with the 3-4′ clumping orange bird of paradise plant. However, its close relative, the white bird of paradise tree, probably is not as well known. The white bird of…
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This is the time of year when you see various colors of Crepe Myrtle Trees (Lagerstroemia indica) blooming. The most common colors for South Florida are White, Light Pink, Dark Pink, Purple, and Red. Richard Lyons Nursery usually has these colors in stock. Call ahead for availability. The primary reason for growing these trees is…
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In 1832, famed avian artist John James Audubon (born Jean Rabin), was visiting a friend in Key West when he gazed into a neighbor’s yard and saw a beautiful flowering tree, which we know as Cordia sebestena. So impressed was he by the tree that his later engraving of white-crowned pigeons shows the birds perched…
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