Buzz
This season marks the vibrant blossoming of golden flamboyant flowers, inviting nectar-seeking birds as a harbinger of the upcoming spring, then shedding golden fragments upon the verdant green grass.
In the nursery area near Vườn Tượng Café (located near Huyền Trân Công Chúa and Nguyễn Du streets) in Tao Đàn Park, Ho Chi Minh City, stands a tall tree with branches reaching high. At the end of the year, as the weather turns cooler, the tree sheds its leaves, waiting until after the Gregorian New Year to sprout leaves and bloom flowers.
The vibrant golden flowers entice nectar-seeking birds, who feast on the flower nectar and chirp melodiously, before the golden petals fall onto the lush green grass.
Many mistakenly believe it to be golden trumpet flowers or a variety of golden shower tree. However, it is indeed the golden flamboyant tree, one of the rare flowering tree species in Vietnam.
The blooming golden flamboyant tree at Tao Đàn Park is scientifically named Schizolobium excelcium, belonging to the pea family (Caesalpiniaceae), the same family as the purple flamboyant tree (currently a flower specialty in Dalat), not the golden poinciana tree (scientifically named Delonix regia var Flavida, commercially known as yellow poinciana), another species in the same family as the red flamboyant tree (currently being cultivated and propagated by the City Parks Company).
The golden flamboyant tree shares similarities with the royal poinciana, differing only in the color of its flowers, which are golden instead of red. It typically blooms in the summer, and there are reports of a few trees blooming in Huế. Golden flamboyant trees, belonging to the pea family, usually bloom in spring.
In the 1950s, during the aspiration to develop Bảo Lộc (formerly Blao) into a town specializing in industrial crops (with tea being the most successful), the French introduced numerous tree species from other colonial regions.
Apart from being cultivated at Bảo Lộc Agricultural and Forestry University, they are also grown in various other locations, including the Blao Di Linh Experimental Center (located in Lộc Sơn commune, Bảo Lộc, named Ferme in French, meaning experimental farm).
Among these tree species is the golden flamboyant tree, which may have originated from Brazil or Mexico. By the time the tree was felled by storms and died in April 2007, it was about 100 years old.
At that time, the people of Bảo Lộc were familiar with a large tree with a trunk as wide as two people hugging, which bloomed flowers in spring and carpeted the ground with golden petals across the hilltop, in front of the Agricultural Experimentation Center, which local residents of Blao fondly referred to as the Buffalo Farm. However, no one thought of propagating this tree by seeds for cultivation.
Subsequently, the purple flamboyant tree was brought back and successfully cultivated by Engineer Lương Văn Sáu in Đà Lạt.
A seasoned Blao resident, Mr. Bùi Tho (working at Bảo Lộc Vocational High School), whose childhood was intertwined with the ancient golden-flowered tree at the Buffalo Farm, sent some flowers and leaves to Saigon for engineer Huỳnh Minh Bảo, his longtime friend.
After engineer Bảo identified the name of this tree species, both decided to call it the golden flamboyant tree. Mr. Bảo advised Mr. Tho to propagate it by seedlings, as this is a rare and precious flowering tree.
In early 1998, before the Year of the Tiger Lunar New Year, while visiting Bảo Lộc to attend the anniversary celebration of the Agricultural and Forestry University, Mr. Tho informed Mr. Bảo that he had successfully germinated seeds to propagate this rare tree species. In 1999, he gifted Mr. Bảo five trees.
Upon bringing them to the city, when the trees were about 50cm tall, engineer Bảo presented one to the Saigon Botanical Garden, one to the City Parks Company (planted in Tao Đàn Park), and two to a farm in Cần Giờ district.
At that time, Mr. Bảo was somewhat worried that the golden flamboyant tree might only thrive in temperate regions (like Lâm Đồng), so planting it in the city might not guarantee flowering. Every spring, he would visit the Saigon Botanical Garden and Tao Đàn Park to observe the trees' growth.
During the 2008 Spring Flower Festival, engineer Bảo witnessed the golden flamboyant tree bloom its first clusters of flowers after 10 years of residing in the city.
With its trunk still slender, measuring about 25cm in diameter and towering over 12m tall, the canopy of leaves is not yet dense, and the flowers have not formed shimmering golden clusters. Nevertheless, they hold the promise of flaunting their vibrant hues in the Saigon sun and breeze of spring.
Back then, he was delighted to see that compared to the purple flamboyant tree, the golden flamboyant tree seemed more suitable for the hot weather of Ho Chi Minh City and began to bloom.
In 2013, due to the cold January weather, both the golden flamboyant trees at the Saigon Botanical Garden and Tao Đàn Park burst into magnificent bloom, carpeting the ground with radiant golden flowers.
From his friend Bùi Tho, Mr. Bảo was pleased to learn that these golden flamboyant trees were also gifted to be planted in the Natural Reserve – Bá Hoa Viên Ornamental Flower Park of the Tây Ninh Holy See and some temples and churches elsewhere. However, he was unsure if these trees would bloom as lushly as those in Saigon.
As mentioned, the mother golden flamboyant tree has died, and there are no more seeds from the original tree. Mr. Bảo always hopes that from the offspring golden flamboyant trees at the Saigon Botanical Garden, Tao Đàn Park, and in Tây Ninh, tree enthusiasts will collect seeds for propagation to plant everywhere.
From here, it will create vibrant golden carpets when spring arrives across the country.
Engineer Huỳnh Minh Bảo passed away in 2014, while Mr. Bùi Tho currently resides in Bảo Lộc.
The purple flamboyant tree was once brought to Ho Chi Minh City and planted in several locations. However, except for the nursery area of Gia Định Park, where it flourished beautifully, in other places, the tree grew slowly and bloomed very little.
During his lifetime, Engineer Bảo hesitated to widely promote the golden flamboyant tree in the Saigon Botanical Garden and Tao Đàn Park due to the young age of the trees and the flowering season, fearing that unconscious individuals might bring guns to hunt birds attracted by the flowers, or even pluck the flowers just for admiration.
Now that he has passed away, the author is unaware of the location where the golden flamboyant trees in the Saigon Botanical Garden are planted. Only the trees in Tao Đàn Park are known, and it is safe to introduce them widely as they have grown very tall, making it difficult to pluck the flowers. When the nectar-seeking birds arrive, photography enthusiasts come to quietly capture photos...
According to Tuoitre.vn
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Reference: Travel Guide by Mytour
MytourJanuary 12, 2016
