Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Other Names:  Firebush, Texas Firebush, Firecracker Bush

Description:

A beautiful native shrub, producing a dense mound of gray-green leaves; orange-red tubular flowers all summer into fall that are loved by hummingbirds; evergreen and larger growing in warm climates; great for containers and borders

Ornamental Features

Scarlet Bush features showy cymes of scarlet tubular flowers at the ends of the branches from early summer to mid fall. Its attractive pointy leaves emerge dark red in spring, turning grayish green in colour with pointy red spines. The foliage often turns red in fall. It features an abundance of magnificent plum purple berries in early fall. The red stems can be quite attractive.

Landscape Attributes

Scarlet Bush is a multi-stemmed annual with a more or less rounded form. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Scarlet Bush is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Scarlet Bush will grow to be about 4 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 4 feet. Although it's not a true annual, this fast-growing plant can be expected to behave as an annual in our climate if left outdoors over the winter, usually needing replacement the following year. As such, gardeners should take into consideration that it will perform differently than it would in its native habitat.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This species is native to parts of North America.

Scarlet Bush is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.