SANTO DOMINGO summer is approaching when, starting in May, the heat intensifies, school-age children rush through exams to go on vacation, and the mountains and some streets begin to show the sudden burst of color and joy evoked by the flamboyant trees.
Each one blooming as it pleases, haphazardly; wherever the sun strikes, a fiery bouquet of red, and rarely yellow, emerges. Like something out of a naive painting, summoning fire and gladdening the soul. Well into June, their canopies blaze unstoppably, and the carpet of petals on the ground invites a siesta beneath their abundant shade.
Towns, streets, and roads throughout the country are adorned with this lush and striking tree, whose seed arrived in the 19th century from Madagascar, crossing the seas, perhaps on a shoe sole or in an adventurous backpack. The island embraced it, and it took root so completely that today it is impossible to imagine a national landscape or scene that does not include it.
It's ours
In Dominican popular culture, there's even a cheeky saying about it: " The flamboyant tree is like marriage: first a pile of flowers, and later it's full of pods. " Like any human relationship.
For many years, the entrance to the city of La Vega , and especially Rivas Avenue , was a landmark because of the rows of flamboyant trees that adorned both sides of the roads, welcoming or bidding farewell to the traveler as a generous and festive land .
Photos and postcards document the spectacle in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s , although depletion reduced their numbers, and today, in 2025, the roads are once again repopulated with the red giants, and some yellow ones. Its Latin name is Delonix regia , and in everyday speech, many Dominicans affectionately call it the " flamboyant tree " as they take shelter in its shade or bathe in the petals that fall like fiery rain, to the rhythm of dominoes hitting the table and the cry of "¡ capicúa 25!" (a palindrome ).
Costumbrista painters like Yoryi Morel or Celeste Woss y Gil, or simply house painters, found in its canopy an irresistible motif to capture the light and warmth of the island on canvas. In their paintings, the flamboyant tree is not just a tree: it is a protagonist, a witness to the market, to the passing horse, the sole companion of the little house that languishes as the river flows away behind it.
And although red is its most famous hallmark , some boast of a botanical treasure : the yellow variety. Rarer and more delicate, it blooms with a golden hue that resembles liquid sunlight, and in some private gardens and parks, it is a source of pride and curiosity. These, standing tall in the mountains, know they are different, making their way through the blaze of their red brethren, saying: look at me, I am different, I am beautiful, I am unique.
There's always a but
For architects and landscape designers, the flamboyant tree is a compositional resource: it is used to frame entrances, soften harsh lines in buildings , and create visual focal points in promenades and city entrances (like the iconic row in La Vega). Furthermore, its light foliage allows filtered light to pass through, promoting a cooler microclimate in open spaces.
Despite its majestic stature, the flamboyant tree has a dark side : its soft, porous wood makes it a frequent host to termites, those unwanted wood-boring insects that, if they find cracks, establish their colony and destroy from within. Even so, it doesn't pose a serious threat to native species; it doesn't invade forests or displace native trees, although in small spaces it can cast its shadow and diminish the prominence of others.
It is, rather, a scandalous guest that should be enjoyed with care, controlling its pests in time and giving it the place it deserves in the landscape or on the walls of our houses, where they will never stop blooming.
Even before summer begins, the flamboyant trees will show us that beauty is unhurried: it arrives in its own time, stays just long enough, and leaves behind a memory that stays with us, probably until next May, when we'll unconsciously check to see if they've started to bloom. And then, they'll once again become a topic of conversation and Instagram or Facebook photos.
