If you like to have colors in your garden and you live in Texas, choose the Mexican Red Bird of Paradise
The Mexican Red Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) grows like a shrub and is considered perennial in frost free areas. The plant has bright red flowers with a hint of translucent orange strikes on one or two petals and fern-like foliage.
The flowers are favorites of bees, wasp, hummingbirds, and butterflies. Once the flower is pollinated, the plant will produce brown reddish seed pods the size of a green seed pod. The seeds are ridged and may be poisoned. When the seed pod mature, it will burst making a crack noise and shoot seeds away. It’s a common shrub in the arid areas of the southern states.