The Illawarra flame tree is a large tree of the Malvaceae family and is native to subtropical regions on the east coast of Australia.

It is famous for the bright red bell-shaped flowers that often cover the whole tree when it is leafless.

Mrs Rocks has lived in her Fernleigh Street home for 60 years, and has watched the Illawarra flame tree grow in her yard for the past three decades after discovering it as a suckling.

Illawarra flame trees are deciduous and shed their leaves after the dry season.

The spectacular flowering occurs in late spring and new foliage is ready for the summer rains.

In areas where the winter is not particularly dry, like Wagga, the natural rhythm can become erratic and the tree may flower only partially.

"In 30 years, my tree has never been in full flower ? I have never seen it completely covered in flowers like it is now," she said.

"The tree is very massive, you have to bend back to see all of it, so it is quite a spectacular sight at the moment.

"I had never truly appreciated it's beauty until I saw it like this (in full bloom)."

Mrs Rocks found the suckling growing in her backyard 30 years ago and decided to move it to a pot, but transferred it back into the garden when it grew to big to be kept in a pot.

According to Mrs Rocks, the an Illawarra flame tree the size of hers is somewhat of a rarity for the region.

"I highly doubt there would be very many of them in Wagga because they are not native to here," she said.

"There might be a few stumpy ones, like the one in Mitchelmore Street, but they wouldn't be very common here."

Unfortunately the wild storms that hit the city on Tuesday wreaked havoc on the magnificent specimen.

"A lot of the flowers fell off in the rain but it does still look very pretty," she said.

"Its just a shame we such a terrible storm."