Arizona

The Mexican Red Bird of Paradise plant (Caesalpinia mexicana) is one of the most spectacular flowering plants in my Arizona desert landscaping. This plant transforms my desert landscaping into a spectacular site during the summer and early fall. It attracts everyone’s attention when it blooms. It produces magnificent blooms of a number of orange-to-red petals and one petal that are yellow.

The plant is also known by the name “Pride of Barbados”. It is native to the southern United States and northeastern Mexico. The Bird of Paradise is heat and drought tolerant and can grow to 10-20′ tall. It is a deciduous plant which looses its leaves when the temperature reaches the freezing point. It uses very little water. It attracts bees and butterflies. The plant is self-propagating and in the fall you can actually hear the seed pods burst open when standing next to them. The seeds and plant are poisonous if ingested. I always cut the branches back to the ground in the fall. This cutting back and removing dead branches helps produce big and better plants during the next bloom.

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