“Poinciana, your branches speak to me of love Poinciana, your branches speak to me of love Poinciana from now until the dawning day Our love, will live forever and a day Blow tropic wind, sing a song through the tree Tree sigh to me, soon my love I will see”
……Song to the Poinciana
I just returned from a beautiful wedding in Barbados. All the pictures in this post show the “flame tree” and its flamboyant display of flowers. This is what it is known as in Barbados. I always knew it by the name “flamboyant” which its display of flowers truly is. It is also known as Royal Poinciana, Pride-of-Barbados, Barbados Pride, and Peacock Flower. It seems that the name changes according to the part of the world you happen to be in.” Pride of Barbados, Caesalpinia pulcherrima is a member of the pea family (Fabaceae). It is referred to by other names including Barbados Flowerfence, Peacock Flower, Mexican Bird of Paradise, Dwarf Flamboyant Caesalpinia, and Dwarf Poinciana. The species name pulcherrima literally means “very pretty” and this plant definitely lives up to the name. The blooms of Pride of Barbados are incredible with terminal flower clusters showing an orange-red with a tinge of gold on the edges. Each flower is composed of five showy petals with very prominent six inch long red stamens.”
I am always overjoyed to spend time in the company of flowers. Filling a vase with water and putting flowers and greenery together to come up with something delightful brings flamboyance to my life. Little did I know that this opportunity would come to me in Barbados.
Many flamboyant branches had been picked on the morning of the wedding. The orange-red petal were taken off and put into little sea-colored gift bags for guests to throw on the bride and groom after the wedding ceremony by the sea. All the branches that were left-over are what you see in these arrangements. I went out into the garden and picked some mango branches from the mango tree for greenery. I picked a few buttercups as well. The fern-like leaves you see are from the “flame.”
After I finished putting these arrangements together, I had the pleasure of decorating the home with them. I was staying at the home of the bride’s parents. We all had lots of fun at the wedding and enjoyed throwing our “flame” petals on them to bless them on their way.
