Snow White’s color choice for the perfect apple, the brilliant blur of a racing fire engine, and one of the major stripes on a candy cane, today we are celebrating the color red. Firebush, Double Red Knockout® Rose, and Firecracker Fern will have you seeing red in your garden, but in a good way. Take a look at this week’s edition of “Plant a Rainbow Garden”.
Firebush
Firebush (Hamelia patens) is a stunning perennial that is perfectly suited for San Antonio’s climate. This vibrant plant not only adds a splash of red-hot color to your garden but also invites nature’s tiny acrobats, thanks to its brilliant tubular flowers that are irresistible to hummingbirds. This plant doesn’t have the word “fire” in its name for nothing. When in bloom, the profuse flowers practically cover the foliage and the effect is a shrub ablaze in color. You actually get 3-1 color with Firebush. The 1.5″ tubular blooms start off fiery red, and open up to reveal brilliant orange and yellow throats. Expect a delightful, frenzied amount of pollinator action if you plant this perennial.
Firebush thrives in a multitude of soils as long as they are well-draining. It performs without the need of fertilizer, and has no known issues with pest or fungus. Hooray! Growing Firebush in San Antonio is also a breeze due to its adaptability and resiliency to heat and drought. It requires minimal watering once established, but a few extra waterings during extreme dry spells will keep the blooms coming. While this plant has the word “bush” in its name, it is a perennial in our area and you can expect it to die back over winter, and as long as we don’t have an extreme winter, it will reliably coming back from its roots when the warmth of spring returns.
The best place for your Firebush is in a sunny location in your landscape Give it adequate room to grow to its full potential of an average height of 4-5′ T and 5′ W. For those of you with more demure tastes, you can look for the dwarf variety that has an average mature growth of 3’T x 3’W. Firebush is well-adapted to the warm, sun-drenched environment of San Antonio, making it an excellent choice for gardeners looking to cultivate a low-maintenance yet eye-catching landscape.
Double Red Knock-Out® Rose
The vibrant red, double blooms of the Double Red Knock-Out® rose has a way of immediately capturing the eye. These roses are a gardener’s dream, renowned for their ease of care and resilience. Not only are these blooms with striking color a feast for the eyes, but they are a beacon for pollinators, attracting butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds to your garden. Double-petaled flowers stand out against lush, dark green foliage, creating both a dramatic and elegant contrast. You’ll get to enjoy the intense, cherry-red hue often as Knock Out® roses have anywhere from 5 to 7 bloom cycles!
Growing to a mature height of about 3 to 4 feet with a similar width, these roses are perfect for both standalone displays in gardens beds and as part of a larger landscape design, perhaps along a fenceline. They also look and perform incredibly when potted up in a container on your sunny patios.
In San Antonio’s climate, the Double Red Knock-Out® rose shines with minimal fuss. Known for their disease resistance, these roses are largely free from the common woes of pests and ailments that most roses endure. They are cold hardy, suitable for USDA Hardiness Zones 5 through 11, and can withstand our mild Texas winters without much concern. You get a lot of bang for your buck with this rose variety, and if red is your thing, these blooms will deliver.
Firecracker Fern
The Firecracker Fern, known for its striking display and graceful form, is a captivating addition to San Antonio gardens. This plant, with its weeping and cascading growth habit, creates a lush, flowing aesthetic. Its vibrant tubular flowers, a fiery red reminiscent of bursting fireworks, stand out against the backdrop of its wispy, fern-like foliage that sways with the slightest breeze. The Firecracker Fern serves as a host plant for the Common Buckeye Butterfly. Its nectar-rich flowers attract a variety of pollinators, especially hummingbirds, whose proboscis fit perfectly in the fiery, fluted blooms. In San Antonio, Texas, the Firecracker Fern thrives during the warm months, blooming profusely through summer and fall. This extended flowering period provides a reliable nectar source for migrating pollinators.
At maturity, the plant reaches an average height of 3 to 4 feet with a similar width, making Firecracker Fern a bold, yet manageable, presence in the garden (or containers). It tends to look a little shorter because of the weeping habit. This perennial prefers well-drained soil and thrives in areas with full sun to partial shade, adapting well to the Texas climate. Firecracker Fern is drought tolerant once established and relatively hardy. It tolerates our mild winters of San Antonio with ease, though it may freeze to the ground during colder winters and prolonged cold snaps, reliably coming back each spring. Shearing it after a bloom flush is spent will encourage new flowers, and cutting it back to about 6″ in late winter will promote a fuller, healthier plant in spring.
The plant’s ability to attract pollinators makes it an excellent choice for butterfly gardens, while its drought tolerance ensures it remains a low-maintenance option for busy gardeners. Whether as a standalone feature or part of a larger, vibrant display, the Firecracker Fern enhances any landscape with it ecological benefits, and besides that, it’s just plain gorgeous!
Paint the town red with one (or all) of these fabulous plants!
~The Happy Gardener, Lisa Mulroy
