May’s Ah-MAY-Zing Blooms

It is summer in Southwest Florida and that means blooming Royal Poincianas (Delonix regia)

Some say, this is the most beautiful tree in the world looking like a giant umbrella exploding with clusters of brilliant red and orange flowers during the months of May and June. They are also referred to as a “flame tree” or a “flamboyant tree,” “peacock flower tree” and “flame of the forest.” It’s a tree that stands out in a landscape. There is also a cultivar called Golden Royal Poincianathat has yellow golden flowers and is just as showy. We have several of them on the island.

Ixora, pronounced “icks-SORE-ah,” is also called “flame of the woods” “jungle flame” “jungle geranium” or “Maui sunset.” It comes in a range of colors blooming all year in Southwest Florida but more profusely during the months of May and June. My favorite is “Prince of Orange” with orange-rose flower clusters covering the entire shrub. Unfortunately, Ixoras are commonly used as hedges and over pruned thus limiting their ability to showcase their blooms. 

The Powderpuff Tree (Calliandra haematocephala) blooms resembles soft, fluffy, wispy cotton candy puffs. It comes in pink, red or white and the puffballs attract honeybees, butterflies and even hummingbirds. The Powderpuff makes an excellent small yard tree, and I have both the pink and the red in my backyard and when in bloom, I enjoy watching the bees deep at work inside each puffball.

Gaillardia (Gaillardia pulchella), also known as blanket flower, is a Florida favorite during the summer months into fall and another excellent source of nectar and pollen. I have the reddish purple and the orange red with yellow tips and I plant them as mass plantings in borders and also as ground cover. They reseed easily and I watch them come up each year.

Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) also known as passionflower or passion vine. It is called Maypop because the fruit appears in May and goes “pop” when crushed. The flower is fragrant and quite showy with an egg-shaped fruit. They say the fruit is edible but I have never tried it. 

Another reason it is called passion flower is because the flower’s intricate arrangement of the stamen and pistils show a close resemblance to the crucifixion during the last days of Jesus Christ, thus the name Passion Flower. 

The flowers come in white, red, blue but it is only the Purple Passiflora Incarnata (native to Florida) that provides habitat and is a host plant to Florida’s Gulf Fritillary, Julia Longwing and the Zebra Longwing, Florida’s State butterfly.

In my backyard, the passion vines are draped over a fence looking a bit wild, making it a perfect haven for visiting butterflies. The butterflies feed on nectar from many flowering plants in my yard but they prefer the dark green leaves of the passion vine to lay their eggs. Often the plant is totally defoliated by hungry caterpillars but the plant bounces back quickly.

The purple flower is often referred to as the most beautiful flower in the world – a bit of an exaggeration but when I saw my first purple passion flower, it took my breath away. It was large - up to two inches wide - and looked more like an exotic silk ornament on a dark green vine. It was deep purple to light lavender with white thread-like “fringes” or filaments covered with pistils and stamens of green and yellow. It is slightly fragrant and lasts only for a day.

In addition to the amazing varieties of trees, shrubs and groundcovers with spectacular blooms in the summer landscape, don’t forget the wildlife. They attract a diverse variety of visiting dragonflies, honey bees, butterflies, insects and native birds that are part of the pollination process. Think nectars, berries, seeds and don’t forget the bird bath in the backyard.