.. a bit early..

With the lack of cold and relative warmth so far this Winter, many of the local Trumpet Trees decided to flower right after New Years. Had noticed the swelling buds on several local Red Kapok specimens also.. Out and about today, discovered the largest tree here in Bradenton (That I am aware of) is in full bloom. smaller specimens in the same area are also flowering.

Looking over pictures taken last spring, all three trees are flowering 2 months ahead of last year.

Enjoy..

-Nathan

Red Kapok ( Bombax cebia/malabaricum) in front of the Bradenton Herald property:

Golden Trumpet Tree, Handroanthus chrysotrichus (spelling) Formally Tabebuia chrysotricha:

Pink Trumpet Tree { Ipe } (Handroanthus impetiginosus) Formally Tabebuia impetiginosa:

I love all those trees wish they would be planted more often in my area. Brachychiton and Jacaranda are way more common.

great pic's Silas!!

Really nice corlours, Silas.

But I wonder why the trees are so bald.

Cold winter can't be reason in Florida, as it is in Europe. Did the leaves drop down due to some drought?

Really nice corlours, Silas.

But I wonder why the trees are so bald.

Cold winter can't be reason in Florida, as it is in Europe. Did the leaves drop down due to some drought?

We have a couple deciduous trees here in Florida. Most respond to the shorter days of winter rather than temperature.

Agree with Keith that a majority of our deciduous flowering trees drop their leaves in response to shorter day lengths, as a pose to experiencing colder temperatures or frost/freeze exposure. Drier weather this time of year also mirrors some degree of similar conditions in each species native range. This year, I noticed a lot of the local Ipe trees are half deciduous instead of dropping everything like they did last year..

As far as the Bombax trees, While some local specimens are indeed bare atm, some other large trees still have a fair amount of foliage. Most younger trees I have seen still have most of their canopy also. Regardless, these trees seem to always put on a good show flower-wise each year.

While shorter day lengths this time of year influence things, I have little doubt a warmer winter thus far has kept some trees from shedding all foliage this year.

Pip, agree that all three of these would be great down there in Oz.. While Bombax require a larger space, still is an awesome sight.. Then again, Australia has Flame Trees (Brachychiton acerfolius).. and all those great looking Flowering Gum trees. Wish we had access to "Summer Red" here in the states..


Josh.. Just think what you could plant under that Bombax, if you had the space.

-Nathan

Edited January 22, 201511 yr by Silas_Sancona

Thank you for your explanations guys