Poinciana Delonix regia

A poinciana in full flower is a flat-topped umbrella far wider than the tree is tall, and that horizontal canopy is the point. The leaves are bipinnate and ferny, so the shade underneath is dappled rather than black, and the tree is only semi deciduous, dropping its foliage for a brief spell before covering itself in scarlet and orange bloom in early summer while the branches are still close to bare. Long woody pods hang on for months. It is a shade tree for open subtropical lawns and parks.

Roots first, everything else second

Do not plant a poinciana near a driveway, a path or a pipe run. The roots are shallow, thick and unapologetic, and the same vigour that gives you a wide umbrella of shade within a decade will lift pavers, crack kerbs and buckle a concrete edge. That is the failure mode, and it is entirely predictable: almost every poinciana that gets removed in a suburban street is removed for its roots, not its health. Give it open lawn with real distance from structures and services, and plan on nothing structural inside the eventual canopy line. It needs full sun and a frost free climate, and it flowers poorly in cool districts, so the further south and inland you go the less you will get. Free-draining soil suits it, including deep sand, and it takes coastal wind well once the canopy has hardened. The old trees in Queensland streets show what the crown does, which is spread sideways rather than up, so the space you need is horizontal. Litter is the other consideration. Leaflets, spent flowers and eventually those heavy pods all come down, which makes it a poor choice over a pool, a paved terrace or a parking area. The pods are worth clearing off lawn rather than leaving them lying about, since the seeds inside are not something to let a dog or a small child chew on.

Summer scarlet against the winter trumpets

The Tabebuia species here flower on bare wood in late winter and then behave like ordinary small shade trees. Poinciana works the other way: it holds its canopy through most of the year and flowers in early summer as the new leaves come. Tabebuia rosea is the alternative for a large warm garden where the display needs to arrive before spring, and it is far kinder to paving. Silver Trumpet Tree is the pick for a smaller hot dry site. Choose poinciana only where there is open ground and a real need for wide summer shade. Compare it against the rest of the flowering trees before committing the space.

Building a framework that survives a storm

The limbs are brittle and the crown is wide, so the pruning that matters happens in the first few years. Build a balanced framework of well spaced scaffold branches around a short trunk, remove tight forks early, and avoid leaving one long unsupported limb reaching over a fence. Prune in late summer once flowering is over. Heavy cuts on mature wood invite decay and rarely improve the shape. Skip nitrogen-rich feeds, including runoff from lawn fertiliser, because they push soft heavy growth onto brittle wood and cost you flower. A potassium-rich fertiliser in spring and a mulch ring is enough. Keep the mulch off the trunk, and clear the pods from lawn before they get under a mower blade.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 9 sizes, from 250mm up to 2000L, priced from $60.95 to $7709.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to choosing a tree for a small backyard.