Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Gorgeous Blooms of Bauhinia Kockiana


Bauhinia Kockiana in our garden, shot September 2005This tropical vine known as Bauhinia Kockiana or Bauhinia Coccinea which needs support for its luxuriant woody stems and trailing branches with green and deeply-veined peaked leaves is truly a gorgeous beauty! When it blooms, which it does throughout the year, it’s covered with bright orange-red magnificent inflorescences with a mix of yellow-orange as some flowers from the cluster gradually wither. It’s eye-catching, no doubt about that! This beauty is amongst my favourites.

It loves the strong sun, needs moderate water and occasional fertilizing to be happy and healthy.


However, too much of anything can be fatal! My hubby and I were shocked and saddened in early February when we returned from a 3days/2 nights holiday at Genting Highlands to find our beautiful vine a casualty of our sometimes unpredictable and extremely hot and dry weather. It suffered ‘sunstroke’ where its branches, leaves and even flowers were thoroughly scorched by the intense heat. Fortunately, other plants in our garden were not unduly affected.

So, rather than ‘write-off this unsightly mass’ which was so beautiful just a week ago , my spouse suggested that I trim down heavily on its stems and branches which were already devoid of leaves and flowers, hoping to nurture it back to health. I did exactly that and my hubby patiently watered it, sparingly at first, increasing gradually.

One week passed without any sign of growth, then the same for the second week! But by mid of the third week, there were signs of life with tiny bean-size appearances at the nodes of some stems. Praise the Lord! It survived and now it’s gradually being filled with new young leaves and branches. Given time, it’ll definitely splash its colors on its beautiful blooms once again to brighten our front yard fence and our days.

Updates:
Sharing 3 images below:
First photo: it survived the sunstroke and even managed to flower again in August, 2006 though less abundantly.
Second photo: just to show its progress in July, 2007 - towering almost 8ft. tall with just a couple of flower clusters. Foliage lush, but flowering very much reduced - could the sunstroke experienced a year ago be the cause?
Third photo: another unfortunate happening again early last month (Feb. 2008) - was extremely scorched by the hot sun, as it was not watered for 3 days when we went off for a short holiday. I've already given it a hard trim down to 3 feet tall and new leaves have sprouted. Hmm...wonder whether it will ever flower again? Had it been planted on ground, I'm definite it would not have suffered such stress! Too bad, our small garden is mostly paved.



See more pictures of Bauhinia Kockiana and plant information at my other website.

Last edited: March 27, 2008

7 comments:

  1. Really beautiful flowers. Just curious to know how you keep the plants so healthy?

    Also, may I know what red flower is i that is near to where you squate in your photo?

    Thanks

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  2. Thank you so much for visit and compliment, Tan!
    Haha...our year round rain and sunshine in the tropics helps tremendously in its luxurious growth and flowering! ;)Actually, this plant is so fuss-free - position it where there's lots of sunshine, water it daily and fertilize it fortnightly, and it'll happily smile for you! :D

    The red flower you're enquiring are orchids as are all those other flowers in the pic. This was taken not from my garden but at a Garden Festival held in 2004. :)

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  3. Hi Jacqueline, I was looking for information on Bauhinia kockiana when I come across your blog. Thanks for sharing the information. I hope your Bauhinia kockiana survived the stress of your trip.
    Please visit my website, The Flowering Garden, www.thefloweringgarden.com to enjoy looking at flowers I have written about. Write to me if you are interested to discuss flowering plants. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi there Timothy! Thanks for visiting and taking the trouble to pen your appreciation. Our B. kockiana survived the stress and is thriving very well, but sad to say it hardly flowers since then, even with fertilizing. Probably, it needs to be repotted into a larger pot which I've been procrastinating!

    I went over to your gardening site and I'm impressed! Flower images are awesome! Have bookmarked for revisits! ;-) Thanks for the invitation.

    BTW, I've a gardening website too at www.jaycjayc.com - please do drop over occasionally. Thanks, Timothy!

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  5. Hi Jacqueline

    Was looking for tips on how to get the Bauhinia Kockiana to bloom profusely as seen in some gardens and I came across your website. I had a plant (about 3-4 ft high)growing on my fence in a very sunny spot of my garden for about 5-6 years without a single bloom, so I threw away the plant & planted garlic vine which gave us lovely branches of flowers each time the flowering season came along. But, am still interested to have the kockiana, so would appreciate your advice on how to get it to bloom. Thanks.

    Marilyn

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  6. Hi Marilyn!
    Reading your comment was like reliving what we went through with our first barren plant. Like you, we 'chuck' it after seeing no sign of it ever flowering and bought another new one, but this time a matured plant that was already blooming its head off (much costlier but so worthwhile). That's what I'd suggest to you - get a Bauhinia kockiana that is already flowering and continue from there, fertilizing fortnightly as you would with other flowering shrubs and preferably plant it on ground. At least you're assured of more hopeful blooms to come. Wish you all the best. :)

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  7. Thanks for your suggestion. Tried to get a flowering kockiana in a few nurseries but was told they couldn't get them to flower either. If you come across any flowering plants for sale, let me know. Guess I'll continue looking for a 'blooming' kockiana!

    ReplyDelete

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