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That’s a picture of “just” a bougainvillea. (How could anything so magnificent be “just” anything?) I say, “just,” though because they’re such a common plant here. They’re blooming right now and they’re breathtakingly gorgeous. Flowering trees and bushes in bloom are a sure sign it’s spring. Recently, there was an Inkwatu Spring post that featured pictures of some flowering trees up in Atlanta.
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The trees pictured in this post are all in St. Pete. Other than the bougainvillea (which I realize is a bush, not a tree), I have no idea what any of them are. The purple one (shown above) is perhaps my favorite and it’s in almost every block. What an amazing display. I can imagine something like that as a flower in a vase, but, to me, it’s almost unbelievable as an entire tree. The yellow and white flowering trees (pictured below) are everywhere too.
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If you know what any of these purple, yellow, and white trees are, please let me know. Even wild guesses would be appreciated. The colors this time of the year in Florida are amazing and it’s starting to get greener and greener, more and more lush and tropical. The weather is perfection, the kind of weather that prompts folks to move here.
Have a resplendent spring, everyone.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
One of our readers wrote me directly with her suggestions as to the identity of the flowering trees in this post. She believes the purple one is the Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis). I believe she’s absolutely correct based on comparing extreme closeups of the leaves and flower with the examples at http://www.naturehills.com/product/eastern_redbud.aspx. She also identified the white flowering tree as oleander (Nerium oleander) and, again, after comparing closeups with a reference page (http://www.floridata.com/ref/N/nerium.cfm), I think she’s absolutely correct. Thanks Elaine!
Any ideas about the yellow flowering tree anyone? Notice all the flowers on the ground around its base. Some folks object to flowering trees because of the “mess” (as they’d call it) they make on the ground. I think that adds to their beauty…but then I don’t have to clean it up.
yellow flower – Tree of Gold or Golden Trumpet,Tabebuia aurea are common names
The yellow flowering tree is a Cassia, I believe, [not sure on the spelling]
i dont agree about the redbud, the bark of a redbud is greyer and the flowers smaller and more intense like a pink/purple mix color the flowers come first and then the leaves are out in bright almost lime green until later in the summer and the arent soo yellow green
OK, thank you! I’m going to go back to that particular tree and get a good closeup up of the bark and leaves. Also, I’ve got several other, and much better, pictures of yet another purple three that’s everywhere right now that has fern-like leaves. Absolutely beautiful. I will get some good closeups of the bark and leaves of those too. I’ll publish those on Wednesday. Maybe we can all take a look and see what they might be. Thanks for reading, Shellie.
the purple trees are called jacaranda
The yellow flowering tree is not a Cassia but a Tabebuia carabia.
The purple tree is a jacaranda or purple silk floss. If the trunk has spikes then it’s a silk floss. If not, then jacaranda. The yellow is cassia, white is oleander .
Thanks, Michael. I think I’ve heard of that term, cassia, before. I’ll go back and look at the truck on the purple tree to see if there’s spikes.
The purple tree is The Orchid tree
Yellow tree is the Golden Medallion or Cassia tree
The white tree/shrub is White Oleander
Oleander comes in White, light pink, and a dark fuchsia pink.
Other stunning flowering trees for Florida growers are the:
Scarlet/ orange Flamboyant tree
White, Pink, or Yellow Mimosa
Those also sport fern like leaves like the Golden medallion tree
Also there’s the lovely giant and very fast growing purple flowering Princess/Queen tree, or Princess/Queen Paulownia tree. All names are proper. It grows up to 15 feet annually reaching 50 or more feet high at maturity, and has leaves more than a foot across, in the spring/early summer it blooms in large clusters of purple trumpet shaped flowers.
The yellow one isn’t a cassia. It’s a tabebuia caraiba (silver trumpet tree) as someone else mentioned. The white one looks more like a crepe myrtle than an oleander but I can’t be sure without seeing the trunk of the tree.