Each flower lasts a few days, but are replaced by others. It flowers continuously for about a month or so, and then the leaves pop out. Each leaf is about a foot long and shaped a little like a feather. Come fall, and the leaves will fall and it will go dormant. I think it does this with daylight hours more than temperature, but that's based on my own unscientific observations, so I could be mistaken. Where the flowers grow, next year it will split in two. It has soft flesh, almost like a succulent. They have a pleasant smell, and are pollinated by moths.
It's funny, we have many tropical plants that go dormant in the winter while the Oaks and other hardwoods never lose their leaves. But down here, the winter is the dry season, so I guess it's the plant's way of dealing with that.
Here is another deciduous tropical tree that flowers in the spring, Tabebuia. We planted a small one a few years ago and it bloomed in April. Each tree blooms for only a couple of weeks, so they tend to hide all year, and then say "Look at me" for short spell. I live on the top of an ancient sand dune, downhill to one side is a brackish water lagoon that is the breeding spot for many fish, and on the other side is a state wildlife preserve. So I only plant things that don't need fertilizer, herbicides or artificial irrigation. Neither of these trees (Frangipani or Tabebuia) needs any water or fertilizer after they get established. That takes about 3 years here on top of the sand dune. By then the roots hit the water table and they are on their own. (Probably more information than you wanted - sorry about that - I tend to get verbose).
My sapling (about 12'/4m tall)
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Close up of flowers:
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My neightbor's tree as it just started to bloom - it gets completely covered with the flowers but I didn't get a chance to take it's picture at peak
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Next month the night blooming Cereus Cacti will bloom. Each flower lasts one night, and they are huge. I'll try to take some pictures and post them.
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