Chilean Fire Tree. One of the most dramatic plants for zone 8-9 area’s. It grows in the temperate forests of Chile and Argentina.These requires moderate climate where it can become a 50' + narrow tree that is usually multi-trunked. In late May and June, this is a tower of blazing red-orange tubular flowers and you will get little else done other than answering questions from the neighbors about just what is that tree? Best protected from freezing winds, mine is fully exposed. Being in the Proteaceae, they don't enjoy phosphorous so be careful what you fertilize them with. Rather than think too hard on it, I just ladle some leaf mulch around my tree.

It is grown as an ornamental in Great Britain and the U.S., and as far north as the Faroe Islands at 62° North latitude.

Here some pics from my little tree. Not yet in full bloom so many more flowers to enjoy.

Researching Now.......hmm...doesn't look like it would work in the southeast. To hot and humid. Anybody grwoing these down here?

Researching Now.......will report back when I got more info...ok boss

Please let me know, cause I already gotsta have one.

David & Keith, I did a little checking and it looks like it hates nighttime heat. The one I have is called, Embothrium coccineum var. lanceolatum which is more tender to cold but still a big maybe in your hot summer climate.

Here some feedback from some of the west coast nursery’s that sell the different spp.

http://plantlust.com/plants/embothrium-coccineum/

Desert northwest nursery- “It is at its best in cool, coastal climates; and tends to be challenging in climates with hot, humid summers.”

Edited May 22, 201412 yr by Palm crazy

David & Keith, I did a little checking and it looks like it hates nighttime heat. The one I have is called, Embothrium coccineum var. lanceolatum which is more tender to cold but still a big maybe in your hot summer climate.

Here some feedback from some of the west coast nursery’s that sell the different spp.

http://plantlust.com/plants/embothrium-coccineum/

Desert northwest nursery- “It is at its best in cool, coastal climates; and tends to be challenging in climates with hot, humid summers.”

Ruh-oh. Figured there might be a reason that I have never seen one.

Theres still lots of exotic plants I cannot grow that you guys can.

Gardening is learning, learning, learning. That's the fun of them. You're always learning.

Helen Mirren

Awesome tree.. just not for FL. Determined to find a source for Alloxylon flammeum, AKA Queensland Waratah. That one should fare better here.

-Nathan-

The saga of the northern Gulf Coast, just a little too warm for this and a little too cold for that.

You got that right, Keith

The Chilean Fire Tree Embothrium coccineum http://plantlust.com/plants/embothrium-coccineum/ are spectacular this year. A few pics from my little tree. Hummers are going crazy for this cool tree.

Magnificent! We need to get more-northerly evergreen selections here in California. The hardy deciduous ones don't last long in the landscape here.

Here is this years blooms 2017.  I planted three more this spring of Chilean fire tree Embothrium coccineum. Hummers are happy to see it. 

 

Edited May 22, 20179 yr by Palm crazy

Palm Crazy: Thanks for sharing those epic images of Embothrium coccineum!! Really enjoyed them. I'm on my 4th attempt to grow one here in Sacramento (NorCal interior). Attached is my latest try, bought via mail order from a Washington nursery several months ago. It has put out a bit of new growth this spring (and already been chewed on by insects). My previous attempts with this species in pots usu. collapsed during our summer heat waves. I'm hoping this one, with its roots in the ground and shaded much of the day, may have a better chance.

Also, still trying, via my Australian contacts, to get some seeds of Alloxylon flammeum.  Supposedly there's a nice specimen in Balboa Park, San Diego: http://www.geographylists.com/alloxylon_flammeum.jpg.

 

Hillizard, it took me three time to get one to grow. Killed the first two by fertilizing which they don’t like! They do need some regular watering fall-winter spring… once they take and get some growth in a few years they are more drought tolerant. Very easy to grow up here. I think your new sitting will prove to be good. The growth on yours is about the same as my new baby ones.  I saw a really nice Telopea oreades in bloom at Windcliff nursery, I took many picture of it only to have my camera act up and lost all the photos. 

Good luck with yours and I hope you find Alloxylon flammeum it a beauty. 

Edited May 23, 20179 yr by Palm crazy

Just now, Palm crazy said:

Hillizard, it took me three time to get one to grow. Killed the first two by fertilizing which they don’t like! They do need some regular watering fall-winter spring… once they take and get some growth in a few years they are more drought tolerant. Very easy to grow up here. I think your new sitting will prove to be good. The growth on yours is about the same as my new baby ones.  I saw a really nice Telopea oreades in bloom at Windcliff nursery, I took many picture of it only to have my camera act up and lost all the photos. 

Good luck with yours and I hope you find Alloxylon flammeum it a beauty. 

Palm crazy: I appreciate your encouragement and thanks for sharing the backstory on your attempts with Embothrium. I just put some sulfur tablets around mine to help acidify the soil and will only fertilize the plant with blood meal, if ever.

BTW, I've only managed to keep small Telopea speciosissima alive for a year or so before they decline, as my largest one apparently has during our 95deg.F weather this week. In California this particular genus probably does better in more coastal locations. 

10 minutes ago, Hillizard said:

Palm crazy: I appreciate your encouragement and thanks for sharing the backstory on your attempts with Embothrium. I just put some sulfur tablets around mine to help acidify the soil and will only fertilize the plant with blood meal, if ever.

BTW, I've only managed to keep small Telopea speciosissima alive for a year or so before they decline, as my largest one apparently has during our 95deg.F weather this week. In California this particular genus probably does better in more coastal locations. 

Don’t feel bad, my telopea dies one summer. It didn’t like 104F we had two years ago. LOL! 

Edited May 23, 20179 yr by Palm crazy

i have tried to grow this plant from seed so many times , i get them to grow through the winter and spring but the summer heat always kills them off
i am in Perth western Australia with the summer getting to 116f for a day or 2 most years
i will try again as i so want to have this plant in my garden , i will try in a more shaded spot this time
your photos look great

Thanks!  The hummers are crazy for it. 

Gorgeous tree that I will leave to those with climates like yours to grow! Thanks for the eye candy!

22 hours ago, Cindy Adair said:

Gorgeous tree that I will leave to those with climates like yours to grow! Thanks for the eye candy!

Thanks Cindy I bet it would grow in your area also…maybe? 

For warmer climates Stenocarpus sinuatus would give a similar look. Not quite the same but won't suddenly die due to a run of warm nights.

In the spirit of "Never give up! Never surrender!" (to my growing zone), I'm all in on trying E. coccineum again this year. Today I received 2 small plants from an Oregon nursery (one was a freebie!) at the same time as the seeds I'd ordered from England arrived. I have the perhaps misguided belief that there might be enough genetic variability in these seeds to find some (or at least one) plant(s) that can tolerate the climate where I live.  We'll see.

In the garden at my previous house I did get a Stenocarpus sinuatus to bloom, so that's always one I can consider for my current place.

Good luck with it Hillizard. The flowers are worth the effort. 

Palm Crazy, your Embothrium are so beautiful in bloom.  I ordered two from a nursery in Oregon last year, which both quickly grew new leaves and branches, and even gave me a beautiful bloom, but then quickly died by the end of June.  I'm in northern Georgia, which appears to be within the tolerable grow zone for Embothrium, but I suspect it can't take the heat + humidity.  This year I'll attempt to grow it again, but I'll put it near my A/C condensate drain in the hopes that the constant moisture will keep its roots nice and cool.  I might be smoking hopium, but the thought of this gorgeous tree in bloom is enough to keep me trying.

Well it worked!  The AC condensate drain has managed to keep the soil cool and moist enough to ensure the Embothrium I planted in spring survived and thrived.  I made sure to work a lot of sand into the red clay it got planted in.  Surprisingly, it was able to grow a full 12 inches this summer, despite being in very humid Georgia.  We're now at the end of December, and the tree has dropped most of its leaves for winter, but the top few leaves are still hanging around.  The top has a crown of very small green leaves, ready to keep growing when spring rolls around.  Excited to be growing this beauty in Georgia.  I doubt there's another of its species in the entire state, but I'd be overjoyed if others in my area would give it a try as well.  It seems to be a picky tree when it comes to location, but worth all the effort.

Georgia Peach, Welcome to Palmtalk !  

Great to hear of the successes with this special tree!!

Congratulations!

Good for you Georgia Peach, I hope you get to enjoy your new treasure for years to come.  Come Next May will have to do another photo shot, lol.

Paradise Found, aka... palm crazy!

Edited December 26, 20214 yr by Paradise Found

Hilliard: It's been 3 years since your last post. Can you give an update about your attempts to grow Embothrium in Sacramento? I've just been given 2 starts from the California north coast but am concerned about our hot, dry summers.

To everyone waiting for updates or interested in growing embothreum coccineum (Chilean fire tree) in the humid southeastern U.S., I've got updates and pictures. First, I have to talk about the long journey I've been on learning about this special tree. Everything I've read tells me it will fail anywhere in the U.S. outside of western Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. But, I have high pain tolerance, and I think this is a rare tree that not enough people have attempted to grow here. So maybe I can trail blaze and contribute what I've learned about it.

First, over the last 7 or 8 years I've attempted to grow this tree at various stages, from seedling to 3 feet tall and flowering. I've probably killed 8 - 10 trees, but I've currently got 3 growing (two from seed and one 4 foot tall and flowering). I've experimented with soil amendments, different soil moisture levels, and various levels of sun exposure. After all that, and several years of partial success and lots of failure, here's what I've learned.

Soil permeability and temperature are the most important aspects of keeping this tree alive. It must have excellent soil porosity. If you're starting with clay soil, remove a few buckets worth of it, and mix in a few bags of coarse sand, gravel, and pine bark nuggets. Do not using potting soil or even compost. It can deal with poor soil just fine. Also be sure the soil stays cool and moist (not overly wet). After you've planted it in the perfect spot, give it bag after bag of mini pine bark nuggets around the area you've planted it in to keep the soil underneath it breathable, well draining, and cool. The 3 foot tall fire tree I planted had all that done, and I replaced its top 6" - 8" of soil as straight pine bark nuggets. That keeps the soil acidic and extremely well draining, as well as cool.

Site location: The 3' tree that's stayed alive is now in its second blooming and growing season and was given the best spot it could ask for. It's about 4 - 5 feet away from a brick wall on a slightly downward slope, facing east. It catches full sun until noon, but during the hottest part of the day it stays shaded because of the brick wall. The heat and high humidity of north Georgia still stresses the tree though. In its first growing season it dropped half its leaves, which apparently is a survival mechanism for trees that think they'll lose too much water through transpiration. However, we watered that tree nearly daily the first year, and it rewarded us by staying alive after it bloomed its heart out.

A few months ago I got worried because I read something that said if Chilean fire trees ever have a stressful year, they'll forever stop blooming. However, that did not end up being the case. Even though in its first year it was completely covered in flowers, the tree still gave us blooms this spring as well, just far fewer. We had probably 7 or 8 clusters of fiery red blooms, plus a lot of branch and leaf growth. Since these trees only bloom on new growth from the previous year, it may be promising that its grown so many new branches and leaves. However, I wouldn't be surprised if it dropped more than half its leaves again, and put itself into survival mode just to get through the dog days of summer here. That would mean only a few bloom clusters next year as well, but still worth it.

I've read it wants night time temperatures below 65 degrees F in order to rest at night. Without that, it stresses. However, if you keep the roots cool and moist, and don't fry the plant with the hottest afternoon temps, it seems to do pretty decently here.

Again, it is a protea, so don't fertilize it with any phosphorus. For my part, I just skip fertilizer altogether. They seem to do just fine without any of that. For all the other proteaceaes I grow in my yard (several types of grevilleas and Gevuina avellana), it really helps to put down some other ground covering plant. For example, my Tasmanian mountain peppers and Gevuina avellana were planted in among Asian jasmine vines, which keep the ground underneath cool and moist. It's the only way I've been able to keep those alive, and I'm sure it would help with Chilean fire trees as well if I were to plant new ones.

The Chilean fire trees I planted from seed are another story. I have one that's probably 5 years old at this point, and was grown from seeds I purchase from the U.K. The one that's still alive from that batch shot up like a weed its first and second year, but now that its been planted in the ground, it grows very slowly. It's probably 10" tall at this point, however it did not have the benefit of being planted on the east side of my home. It was planted on the west side, which means it gets the brutal afternoon heat. But its saving grace is that it was planted right at the top of a retaining wall, on a slope that receives constant moisture from my AC condensate drip line. It also has the top of its soil covered in several inches of pine bark nuggets. The small hill above it has had many bags of sand mixed into it, and the retaining wall has nothing but gravel behind it. So it has very permeable soil and stays constantly moist, but not wet. This is enough to keep it alive with some small amount of growth each year, but I suspect if I could've planted it on an eastward-facing slope where it only received direct morning sun, it would be doing much better right now.

The third fire tree I have is a seedling from the 4 foot tall specimen that has the perfect spot. I took seeds from it last year and got a couple to sprout. This is the last one to have survived. It's in a small plastic pot with its soil a mixture of coarse sand and peat moss. I put oak catkins all over the top of its soil line to make a carpet that would keep its soil cool and prevent it from drying too quickly between waterings. It's only about 1" tall at this point, but you can see its top is already splitting into two crowns. This one will likely be a multi-branched cluster if it survives. But interestingly, now I have fire tree genetics from both the U.K. and an Oregon nursery.

I hope this inspires someone out there to give the Chilean fire tree a try (or two... or ten). It's a fickle tree, but to behold it in bloom is indescribable. In my opinion, this is the most beautiful tree in the world when blooming, and still a pretty tree for the other 10 months of the year.

One last point, deer seem like the taste of the leaves, so protect it with a chicken wire cage if you have deer in your area.

Good luck