Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Other Names:  Scarlet Bouvardia, Trumpet Flower

Brand:  Proven Winners

Description:

An upright, small shrub with slightly arching stems bearing whorls of narrow, pointed green leaves; brilliant scarlet-orange trumpet flowers with hot pink highlights from mid-spring until fall; stunning color for perennial borders or containers

Ornamental Features

Estrellita Little Star® Firecracker Bush features showy clusters of orange trumpet-shaped flowers with scarlet overtones at the ends of the branches from mid spring to mid fall. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its small pointy leaves remain dark green in colour throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Estrellita Little Star® Firecracker 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 should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Estrellita Little Star® Firecracker Bush is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Estrellita Little Star® Firecracker Bush will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. Although it's not a true annual, this 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. This plant will benefit from an application of bonemeal and/or mycorrhizal fertilizer at the time of planting. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.

Estrellita Little Star® Firecracker Bush is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. 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.