If big and bodacious is your thing, then you need a Bidwill’s coral bean. I just snapped this photo of our clump of Erythina x bidwillii in the garden. This amazing hybrid of our North Carolina native coral bean with the South American coral bean is one amazing plant. It dies back to the ground in winter, then re-emerges from a giant underground woody caudex. It started flowering a few weeks ago and will continue until frost. Allow a spread of at least 10′ in width.
I just bought a coral bean plant a couple of months ago and it seemed to be doing well. There were two stalks, the taller one and then an offshoot coming from the bottom. When I went out the other morning I noticed that something had stripped all of the leaves from the taller stalk. Nothing seems to be on the plant and nothing has gone after the lower stalk yet. Any idea what it could be and how I deter it?
Could be deer, but it’s hard to tell from here.