{"id":9671,"date":"2017-06-28T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2017-06-28T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=9671"},"modified":"2017-05-30T14:06:28","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T18:06:28","slug":"firebush-is-one-tough-texas-flowering-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2017\/06\/28\/firebush-is-one-tough-texas-flowering-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Firebush Is One Tough Texas Flowering Plant"},"content":{"rendered":"
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‘Lime Sizzler’ firebush<\/p><\/div>\n

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Hamelia patens (photo from Texas Ag Extension website)<\/p><\/div>\n

Firebush. aka\u00a0scarlet bush (Hamelia patens<\/em>), \u00a0is indigenous from\u00a0Mexico to Central America (USDA hardiness 10-11). Treat it as a tempermental perennial in zone 9, and an annual everywhere else it is not hardy. This fast growing plant blooms through most of summer into fall\u00a0with showy clusters of tubular red buds and flowers. Firebush\u00a0thrives in Texas heat from July to September where it finishes as\u00a0a 4- to 5-foot mound. In the Tropical South, established plants may grow 10 to\u00a012 feet high.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once established, Firebush is highly drought tolerant and thrives in any average\u00a0soil that is drains well. Full sunlight is preferable; shoots grow\u00a0off weak and spindly in 1\/2 day shade with reduced flowering. Leaves appear in whorls of between 3 and 7 at the nodes of the stems, and are about 6\u00a0inches long and lightly haired. Firebush leaves vary by species, individual plants, and seasonal\u00a0growing conditions locally. Most often leaves\u00a0are light to dark green but sometimes purplish or red depending on cultivar. In fall foliage often turns bright red.<\/p>\n

Firebush is also called “hummingbird bush” because hummingbirds are attracted to its tubular red flowers. Flowers are in cymes; the terminal and axillary inflorescences are widely forked and showy. Flower buds last longer than the actual flowers themselves. These inflorescences are 2 to 4 inches long and almost as wide. Flower buds emerge yellow, becoming orange. Occasional shearing keeps plants in a nearly perpetual state of bloom.<\/p>\n

New in the Southern Living Plant Collection in 2017 is Lime Sizzler\u2122 Firebush<\/strong>\u00a0which features green and yellow variegated foliage with sizzling red-orange flowers from late spring through fall. Performs well in the landscape or in a container. The cultivar ‘Firefly’<\/strong>\u00a0has leaves and flowers about half normal size.<\/p>\n

Aphids can be a nuisance on new spring\u00a0leaves. Caterpillars, lubber grasshoppers, scales, mealybugs and \u00a0mites may cause damage. Firebush demands little special care after its first year in the garden Irrigate periodically during first year. Lightly shear the plant a couple of times during the growing season to promote the heaviest flowering<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Firebush. aka\u00a0scarlet bush (Hamelia patens), \u00a0is indigenous from\u00a0Mexico to Central America (USDA hardiness 10-11). Treat it as a tempermental perennial in zone 9, and an annual everywhere else it is not hardy. This fast growing plant blooms through most of summer into fall\u00a0with showy clusters of tubular red buds and flowers. Firebush\u00a0thrives in Texas heat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,772,398,1124,1218,707,747,1319,1150,710,674,645,806,1402,602,774,745,1257,742,551,843,601,777,630,706,756,1,113,642],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9671"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9689,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9671\/revisions\/9689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}