Delonix Regia, also known as the flamboyant tree, is a colorful deciduous tree well-suited to growing in Malta. It has bright green foliage that provides shade but is not a total blackout. The flowers are the highlight of the tree. Propagating the tree from seed requires scarifying the hard seed coats before soaking to improve germination rates. The seeds should be sown directly in pots and will germinate within 4-6 days at a high success rate if sown from May to August.

1. Delonix Regia / flamboyant tree<br />Delonix are very colourful deciduous trees that do well in the Maltese Islands. They are medium sized and the delicate looking foliage is a bright green colour of a density that provides shade but is not a total blackout as is the case with many commonly planted trees.Obviously the flowers are the highlight of this species.More information about Delonix regia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_PoincianaUnfortunately this tree is far from common in Malta and Gozo, which is a shame as it is not demanding and also a fast growing tree.One possibility is that propagation, by seed, while not at all difficult requires that certain steps be taken to ensure success. The seeds have a very hard and impermeable seed coat which inhibits the uptake of water, so simply sowing these will generally result in a very low germination rate, possibly 5% or less. (See http://www.maltagardening.com/gardentalk/index.php?topic=5.0 for more about hard-coat seed dormancy)The way to overcome this problem is to scratch the seed coats of each individual seed by rubbing one side against medium grade sandpaper laid on a flat surface, for about 15 seconds.Soak these scarified seeds overnight, and the ones where the process has been sufficiently thorough will show signs of peeling of the seed coat. Plant these seeds about 20mm deep directly into pots, a useful size pot would be about 12cm but if you wish you can sow into larger pots and skip a repotting stage.The seeds will germinate in about 4-6 days, with an extremely high success rate.Tips - Sow these from May - August latest, so that the seedlings grow sufficiently before they lose their leaves and go dormant.Do not leave the seeds in the water more than overnight. Seeds left in water very long can quot;
drownquot;
and die.Any seeds that have been soaked and have not peeled but have remained completely unaffected by the water, re-sand and re-soak.If the seeds you obtained are still within the 60cm long and very hard seed pod, you will also appreciate that getting them out of the pod can also be a hammer-and-chisel challenge in itself. To save effort, soak the entire pod in water (overnight also sufficient) and this will soften. Twist/bend the pod, and the two halves should be quite easy to separate, and if you fancy the ornamental value of the pod the halves can then be reattached, although the inside is just as attractive if not more.<br />