As a follow on from Niall’s post on coral trees, https://sprig.co.za/2009/04/baby-coral-trees/, and the continuing series on introducing indigenous plants to your garden (see post below), get some coral trees!
As Niall says, they are very easy to propagate – the babies in his post (and two others) came from this tree (see pic), which I planted as a 4ft sapling 5 years ago. It is now around 11ft.
hey mol-d. it is indeed a striking, fast-growing tree (I don’t think your photograph does it justice) with beautiful red flowers, and I think every garden should have one, if they have the room.
I love these trees. Mol-d didn’t you give me a baby for my birthday? What kind of root system are we looking at? Do you have to plant well away from foundations? Also, do you think it can do with sun/shade, or needs full sun?
I agree, they are an essential plant for the garden – with their amazing flowers, but their roots are quite aggressive, and will lift paving, and look for drains, so always plant them away from anywhere they can do damage.
ja, i gave you one sonya.. they are great and indeed, the photo doesn’t do it justice, particularly now as we are heading into winter and it loses its leaves and produce brilliant flowers.
Can anyone tell me how long before a Coral tree flowers? I planted a 2yr. old last year in a client’s garden and it still hasn’t had one flower. As my client is fairly old, he keeps asking if he will see it flower before he dies!
Hi Zelda. I planted a small tree (about waist-high) two years ago and it is flowering now for the first time.