Golden Acre Home & Garden Centre's Plant Library

Brand:  Walters Gardens

Description:

A striking variety with vibrant, rounded yellow-green leaves with contrasting deep crimson variegation radiating from the leaf centers; dainty cream bell flowers in early summer; naturally more heat and humidity tolerant

Ornamental Features

Catching Fire Foamy Bells features dainty spikes of white bell-shaped flowers rising above the foliage from late spring to early summer, which emerge from distinctive pink flower buds. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive crinkled lobed leaves emerge chartreuse in spring, turning lime green in colour with showy crimson variegation and tinges of buttery yellow the rest of the year.

Landscape Attributes

Catching Fire Foamy Bells is a dense herbaceous evergreen perennial with tall flower stalks held atop a low mound of foliage. 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 be cut back in late fall in preparation for winter. It is a good choice for attracting hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Catching Fire Foamy Bells is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Catching Fire Foamy Bells will grow to be about 10 inches tall at maturity extending to 18 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 18 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 14 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain low and dense right to the ground. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an evegreen perennial, this plant will typically keep its form and foliage year-round.

This plant does best in partial shade to shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider covering it with a thick layer of mulch in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Catching Fire Foamy Bells is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers and foliage against which the larger thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, most plants cannot be expected to survive the winter if left in containers outdoors, and this plant is no exception. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.