Erythrina x bidwillii - Coral Tree

Erythrina x Bidwillii, also known as Red Coral Tree or Bidwell's Coral Tree, is a beautiful exotic bush that is grown more as a perennial plant. Its growth is so rapid that it regenerates its branches and blooms in the next season after being cut back to the ground by frost. It is appreciated for its spectacular and exuberant flowering, in the form of huge clusters of long red tubular flowers, often exceeding 70 cm (27.6 in) in length. It can be grown in the ground, in perfectly drained soil, provided it is well protected during winter. In colder regions, it makes a very beautiful orangery plant.

Erythrina x bidwillii is a horticultural hybrid resulting from the cross-breeding of Erythrina herbacea, native to the southeastern U.S.A and Mexico, and E. crista-galli, native to South America. Its first parent is a semi-herbaceous perennial plant with woody base, hardy and very drought-resistant. The second, which forms a small tree or large bush, is a species that prefers wet areas. Erythrina belongs to the family Fabaceae. It is grown in temperate climates as an herbaceous plant in the ground, or in a greenhouse. Its habit is a bit disorderly, weeping and often wider than tall.

Bidwell's Coral Tree will reach 2 to 3m (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) in all directions, slightly less if pruned back each year by frost or if grown in a pot. It produces long, slender and slightly spiny shoots. The leaves are deciduous in winter in our latitudes and divided into 3 large heart-shaped leaflets, of a pretty apple green. Flowering occurs more or less early depending on the climate and mode of cultivation. It starts in late spring in mild climates, from summer to autumn if the plant has regenerated its branches in spring. At the tip but also along this year's branches, clusters sometimes reaching 1m (3 ft 4 in) in length form, composed of very elongated, almost tubular, pea flowers, 5 to 7cm (2 to 2.8 in) long, with a large bright red standard directed downwards. This flowering is rich in nectar and attracts many pollinating insects. As in most Fabaceae, this plant has a powerful taproot with nodules that house bacteria capable of fixing nitrogen from the air, which is an adaptation to poor soils.

A spectacular bush or large perennial, with a somewhat scruffy but undeniably exotic appearance, Erythrina can sometimes be difficult to combine in the garden, but it truly is a star plant for the terrace. In the ground, one could match the "cosmetic" red of its clusters with the white flowers of a buddleia, gauras or deutzia. It could also be planted next to Sophora secundiflora, a curious Texan bush from the Fabaceae family that produces blue clusters. Red Erythrina is undemanding of the nature of the soil if drainage is good: it tolerates poor and sandy soil. In continental climates, it is not difficult to grow in a large pot to be stored frost-free during the winter.