Hi there.

I've been reading everything I can find about the subject but I still have a few questions about growing and caring about Delonix Regias.

3 years ago I went to the Canary Islands and I fell inlove with the tree so I brought back a few seeds.

I kept them and the next spring I planted them in a few pots.

Sure enough, a couple of them started growing. I gave one to a friend and kept the other inside the house because of the frost during winter.

Last year, another one sprouted on its own, and yesterday I had another one coming out (after 2 years in the ground), so now I'm the proud owner of 3 delonix regias raging from 0 to 2 years old. :o)

Now the questions:

1) Every single year during the winter the tree loses all its leaves and branches and only the trunk remains. Is this normal?

2) From what I read, the ideal soil is a fast draining one and it hates water during dormency. I've put them in regular soil and I water them 3-4 times a week. Some people say it should grow 3-4 feet per year, but my oldest one is only 1 feet tall... could the soil have anything to do with it or is the slow growth due to the climate?

3) The container is about 1 foot in diameter and 1.5 height.

Should I change them to a bigger one?

4) How about fertilizer? So far, I didn't give them any (mostly because I'm afraid to kill them)...

5) Finally the prunning. As you can see, the oldest one has a million branches and I only clip the lowest ones. Should I take out some of the top ones to encorage growth?

Thanks in advance for any info and help.

Below are the three plants. On the left vase the 1 day and the 1 year old and on the right the 2 year old.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:373715}}