Scarlett O'Harvey

A few weeks ago, The Colonel and I went shopping for a tree. We wanted to plant it in our empty lot next to The Pinery (our house in town). We have always loved the look of Royal Poinciana trees. The first time we saw one was when we visited Key West, Florida in 1984. In May 2018, Key West adopted the Royal Poinciana as its official tree.

The Royal Poinciana was named for Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy, the 17th century governor of Saint Christopher (Saint Kitts) in the Caribbean. 

In North America, the tree grows in South Florida, Central Florida and in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas (and now my side lot...13 years ago, we planted a Royal Poinciana tree in the yard of our house in the country but a cold snap destroyed it).

When The Colonel and I purchased the tree we were told the blooms would be red. Some trees can be a reddish-orange color or even a rare yellow color. We wanted the red colored blooms.

We have named our new tree Scarlett O'Harvey...Scarlett due to the color of her future blooms and O'Harvey because she now resides on Harvey street (gee-whiz, hope no Millennial gets their panties in a bunch because of the similarity of my new tree's name and that of a certain character from a classic book/movie that shall remain nameless...or maybe...I can say it this way..."Absent with the Zephyr"). 

Two men from the nursery arrived with Scarlett O'Harvey in tow.

We watched as they dug a hole in the ground and planted our new tree.

Nearly done...

                                                      

Scarlett O'Harvey looks beautiful in her new home. We are watering her every day and we are seeing new growth on her limbs already. No blooms yet, hopefully by next season. She should grow out to have a nice canopy and be a gorgeous shade tree.

There are many Royal Poinciana trees around our town, but one of our favorites resides in a park alongside the river.

Fiddle Dee Dee, What a Beautiful Tree!