Do you live in a desert area but would like to have some beautiful flowers for that spot right over there? Then I have just the plant for you...poinciana or Pride of Barbados.
The Pride of Barbados (click the picture) is a desert-plant that, once it grows, will keep coming back year after year—especially if you leave it alone and don't give it too much TLC. It's a DESERT plant and doesn't know how to handle very much water…and really gets confused when you try to fertilize it. It just gives up and dies with either of these things.
In the Phoenix area, I've seen them in the medians in the major streets. It basically gets no care, water, or fertilizer during the year and it does just fine. I grow them in south Texas and they're all over the city of San Antonio. I've collected these seeds from my plants.
Click on the picture to blow it up and see the "glow in the dark" flowers. People stop and take pictures of mine and have been for years. It's just a show-stopper.
Order yours today and get started. For $2.50 plus $1.00 for shipping and handling, you get 10 seeds ready for planting. Just them plant around the first of April about ½" deep in a small pot, moisten the soil, place the pot in bright light (but not direct sunlight as it dries out the pot too quickly), keep the soil moist, and wait a few days.
Once it sprouts and gets about 3-4 inches tall, just gently place it in the ground at the same depth it was in the pot and stand back. Don't fertilize the new little plant or you'll kill it. It will grow to about 6 feet tall and 6 feet wide in just a few weeks. Then the show begins. The flower spikes are about 12"-18" tall with yellow, orange and red flowers. Once it starts to bloom, then you can fertilize it with your favorite fertilizer…just don't overdo it.
If the winters are below freezing where you live, the plant will die back in the winter but it comes right back in the spring when the ground warms up. This plant is TOUGH! Remember, it's a DESERT plant.
Bluebonnets
Then, there is the state flower of Texas, the bluebonnet. I've been collecting these bluebonnet seeds for several years and have lots of them. Don't have a photo to show. Sorry.
Order y ours today and be ready this fall. For $2.50 plus $1.00 for shipping and handling, you get 20 bluebonnet seeds ready for planting.
These are to be planted in the late fall. Find a place in the yard that has FULL sun all day long. If there is any grass, cut it clear to the ground with the line trimmer. Scratch up the soil a little with a rake and then broadcast the seeds. The plants don't have to be close together to get a good stand of bluebonnets next spring. Scratch the soil again just a little to be sure the seeds make contact with the soil. If not, they can't sprout. Water the seeds in very well. DO NOT fertilize them or you'll kill them.
Water again in about 2 weeks if it doesn't rain. But that's it. Don't water any more or you may cause the seeds to rot in the ground. During the late fall or winter months the seeds will sprout and form what is called a rosette. It's a little flat-shaped, low to the ground plant about 3-4 inches in diameter which doesn't bloom or do anything but sit there and help the roots to grow.
But in the spring, stand back. When they start to grow, add just a little (about a tablespoon full) of fertilizer around the plant and water it in well. This will cause the rosette to start to grow to a plant which will be about 18 - 24 inches tall with several bluebonnet flowers.
As the flowers begin to fade, you'll see some small green seed pods where the flowers used to be. Leave the seed pods on the plant until they start to turn brown. Then pull the whole plant up, place it in a paper bag upside down and let the seeds mature. When seed pods are mature, they pop open in order to spread the seeds out away from the mother plant. If you didn't put yours in a paper bag, you won't be able to capture the seeds.
When you collect the seeds, place them in a zippered-bag and put it in the fridge--not the freezer. The seeds will keep for years. Now you have your own supply forever more.
