Flame Anisacanthus, Hummingbird Bush, Desert Honeysuckle, Texas Firecracker
Anisacanthus wrightii
(syn Anisacanthus quadrifidu var. wrighti)
…for fiery blooms till frost
Design Tip: Use as a mid-sized hummock shape in the sunny perennial garden to have constant flame-colored blooms from mid-summer to frost. Its delicate leaves and stems enhance a wildscape planting, or will add contrast to large leafed plants in a formal composition.
Form: The Texas-native perennial appears as a small shrub of upright trunks draped with lax stems.
Size: The deciduous plant grows rapidly to 3 feet tall, 4 feet wide. In frost-free regions without winter dieback, it will attain a six-foot height.
Flowers: Hummingbirds and butterflies flock to the reddish-orange funneled flowers topped with a star-shaped font. Blooms are formed on new growths. Irrigation during arid spells increases bloom production from July through first frost.
Soil: It will live in poor to rich soils with adequate drainage.
Water: Will survive prolonged droughts, but requires moderate irrigation to rise to cultivated worthiness.
Light Exposure: It will tolerate less than full sun, but the more the sun; the more blooms.
Hardiness: Hardy in USDA Zones 7-10, it will return from the roots after winter lows of 5°F.
Grooming: To develop the best form and bloom, it should be pruned close to the ground after first frost and be trimmed once or twice in spring with hedge clippers to create a denser structure with more terminal growths before mid summer bloom time.
Propagation: It is easy to propagate by seed as well as softwood or hardwood cuttings of current season's growth from mid-summer through fall, but often self-seeds to the point of weedy-ness.
Snippets: Native to southern Texas and northeastern Mexico, it is extremely heat tolerant with no apparent disease or insect problems and is reported to be deer resistant.
Cultivated, photographed and written by
Maggie Ross McNeely in Ft. Worth, Texas
All rights reserved