hi

they are very showy aren't they?? had one in the backyard when I bought the house but I finally removed it because of the seeding and the large pods

another problem was Carpenter ants harbored around a gazillion of them lol they certainly are spectaul;ar though gary

Bauhinia blakeana doesn't produce seed, they're supposed to be a hybrid despite having a species name. I had a few of the others and kept having to destroy all the seed. There's still 2 small ones of those left and now I just cut off any branches that start to get flowers. The blakeana I don't have to worry about.

I loved the look of them, when I saw them in Hawaii.
Didn't realize what a problem they can be.

From what I understand they're popular in Mexico too, but a lot of the seeding species were planted and they've become a real pest. The B. blakeana is also called Hongkong Orchid Tree it's the national flower or tree of Hongkong. The species it's a hybrid from are from southern China.

hi

?? I've been meaning to ask for some time . took my grandson to to the zoo among the many marvelous birds thay had a pair of Cassowary. Most aggresive animal I've ever seen Attacked the fence many times and was grateful there was a fence!!lol Do you have these in your neighborhood .

cant imagine it running loose in the garden even without the aggression ?? Must be awfully destructive?? gary

It, obviously, wasn't blooming season, when I was in Hong Kong.
Love your last photo even more.

Thanks Inga. I've never been to Hong Kong, that info was just some of the stuff I've picked up over the years.

Gary, we don't have Cassowarys here, they're only on the north east coast (plus a couple of species in New Guinea). They can be dangerous and have that reputation. But there are urban areas in rainforest environments where the birds are commonly seen wandering about the streets and through home gardens. The rainforest there can be very dense so they go head down and hard to get through, hence the development of the "armour" on the head. And that has become a defence mechanism capable of inflicting a lot of damage. They also have big claws on their feet. But because of them living amongst people without too much trouble, apart from them being hit by cars, they're not considered a big problem. Behaviour like that of the one you saw in the zoo is on the extreme and is probably the result of bad treatment at some stage. In any case, it's hard to say, you never know what the bird has experienced.

They rely on rainforest fruits so after cyclones they can starve until the forests begin to recover. After Cyclones Larry and Yasi people were putting food out to get them through but this encouraged a lot more of them into the urban areas and stay permanently. Now days walking trails in those areas have signs with advice on appropriate behaviour when encountering Cassowarys. I've never been concerned when walking in those areas but have never encountered any. Although, have probably walked past many that ignored me but I didn't see because of the dense jungle.

Found it! One of the photos I took of a Cassowary sign a couple of years ago.

Hi

Sorry i hadn't replied comp crashed lol My grandson got very near the fence and he attacked about half way up with both feet He continued following us completely around the enclosure lunging at least six times . I suspected they might be breeding??? There was a hen but she stayed way on the far side . Whatever was VERY grateful the fence was there lol Thanks for the info gary

That is a lovely flower, though, Tropi, I did plant it once but realised 12 months later that it really would get much too big for the spot I had it in so removed it. I was unaware of the seeding problem. A few years ago I was wandering through one of my favourite native nurseries in Sydney and spotted this one under the name of lysophylum hookeri; a native bauhinia from the north to north west of Queensland. Beautiful weeping habit and no seed problem. Also I spotted this other one at another nursery, Bauhinia natalensis. Beautiful flower but unfortunately it failed.

I haven't seen those white ones here, they look great..

Mine's still flowering, and new buds still developing.