{"id":225563,"date":"2016-04-15T06:06:41","date_gmt":"2016-04-14T20:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=225563"},"modified":"2016-04-15T06:06:41","modified_gmt":"2016-04-14T20:06:41","slug":"mia-flame-tree-flowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/mia-flame-tree-flowers\/","title":{"rendered":"MIA: Flame tree flowers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Unlike<\/a>
Unlike when they\u2019re healthy and during their peak season, only a handful of flowers can be seen from this flame tree in San Antonio. It is one of the few flame trees along Beach Road that actually has flowers. (Frauleine Villanueva-Dizon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

April has begun and so has the annual Flame Tree Arts Festival but the famed flaming red blossoms of the flamboyant flame trees are still nowhere to be found on Saipan. <\/p>\n

And so many have asked: Just where have the flame trees gone?<\/p>\n

As Saipan residents would know, the flame trees are among the silent victims of Typhoon Soudelor, which toppled down a significant number of trees last August. Even before the strong one hit, the trees experienced blows from the unusual number of storms and typhoons the CNMI had last year.<\/p>\n

However, one should not despair for there is still hope that we will see these flowers that make the island more vibrant soon.<\/p>\n

This is because despite being in recovery, the trees will bloom, according to Department of Lands and Natural Resources Secretary Richard Seman.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply because of their seasonality, they will bloom,\u201d Seman said, \u201cIn essence they are still in recovery since they are still alive.\u201d <\/p>\n

Flame trees peak in June<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although April is when we start to see them bloom, Seman also noted that the primary season for Flame Trees is around May with its peak happening around June.<\/p>\n

The Flame Tree Arts Festival itself was held in June since it was started in 1980, according to Department of Community and Cultural Affairs acting secretary Robert Hunter. <\/p>\n

Although it is disputed who named the festival after the flame trees, it was certainly inspired by their blooms. <\/p>\n

Hunter said most of the artists who take part in the festival requested for it to be moved to April as June is generally a busy month aside from the weather being extremely hot and dry.<\/p>\n

However, while flame trees do not fail to produce flowers every year\u2014displaying their resiliency\u2014they are not expected to be as ostentatious as they were the previous years. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey will [bloom] but they will not be as huge as they used to because there are lesser branches now,\u201d Seman said, \u201cThey always will but not as many.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being the \u201cstate tree\u201d of the Commonwealth, flame trees are not endemic to the CNMI.
\nAccording to the Marianas Resource Conservation and Development Council, the first Flame Trees were brought to Saipan in the 1960s. About 800 to 900 flame trees were planted at that time.<\/p>\n

Resilient and elegant<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because they are not from here, Seman said there is not much to do to help them recover but to just leave them alone. <\/p>\n

The flame tree, a native to Madagascar but has since spread to other countries including nations in the Pacific and Asia, is resilient to heat as it craves for tropical climate and can survive salty conditions. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s anything that hurts them it\u2019s the termites,\u201d Seman said. <\/p>\n

In addition to its elegance as well as its characteristic of providing wonderful shade, another great thing about Flame Trees is that they are easy to plant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re so easy to plant, they\u2019re so easy to grow,\u201d Seman said, \u201cThey grow so fast. If you plant them now, within four months they\u2019re ready for transplant.\u201d <\/p>\n

Seeds used for planting flame trees come from the pods that fall after the blooming period of the trees. Because flame trees bloom every year, Seman said they don\u2019t have a problem with finding seeds. <\/p>\n

Within a year, Seman said the trees will be able to survive on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will have enough height and enough width to withstand the wind,\u201d Seman said. <\/p>\n

Seman said the department\u2019s Division of Forestry is always ready to plant new flame trees and replace those that were lost. <\/p>\n

They can even accommodate additional projects or requests for flame trees. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever it\u2019s needed, our Forestry Division has a nursery and they regularly plant flame trees,\u201d Seman said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April has begun and so has the annual Flame Tree Arts Festival but the famed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":225566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[10950,26,10951,10952],"class_list":["post-225563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-although-april","tag-cnmi","tag-flame-trees","tag-forestry-division"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}