Gardening

A Different Kind of Firework

HOW TO GROW FIRECRACKER PLANTS IN THE COASTAL BEND BY: JUSTIN BUTTS

You can enjoy fireworks in your garden on Independence Day — and every other day throughout the year. Firecracker plants bring sparks of color to your garden in the summer and winter seasons alike.

This is a spreading shrub native to Mexico with long, slender branches that bend and arch to from the shape of a wave. The green leaves grow like soft needles along branches covered with small, tubular, scarlet-red flowers.

The firecracker plant is so interesting and beautiful that it could be featured as a specimen plant in a flower garden, but the best presentation is a low hedge along a walkway or as a backdrop for a garden of short flowers. A firecracker hedge creates a stunning presentation.

These plants spread through runners that grow beneath the soil, so a garden bed planted with firecracker plants will eventually fill out in lush growth. A hard freeze will kill the plants; however, as we saw after the great freeze of 2021, the plants will regrow from their roots and soon refill the bed.

They can endure the worst of our summer heat, have no problem with our relentless Gulf winds and can even take salt spray from the ocean. They are extremely drought tolerant, and you will probably never need to water your mature plants. Plus, the firecracker plant does not suffer from pest problems at all.

Hummingbirds and butterflies love firecracker plants. Your hedge will host dozens of hummingbirds at a time as they zoom in and out of the flowers for pollen.

A firecracker hanging plant is easy to care for and offers a fascinating appearance on a patio or deck. Make sure to keep the plant in full sun year-round for maximum blooms.

a need-to-know basis

GROWING UP

Spacing, 2’ to 3’. Height, 4’ to 6’. Easy to grow. Plant from transplant in full sun; shaded plants suffer slow growth and few blooms. Any well-drained soil. Withstands worst summer heat. Dies in hard freeze but can regrow from roots. Add several inches of organic fertilizer around base of plants each spring. Water until established; extremely drought tolerant. No pests.

PROFILING

Grows as low, spreading shrub. Long arching branches form wavelike appearance. Tiny green leaves resemble thick needles. Red, tubular flowers, about one-and-a-half inches long, grow profusely along branches. Flowers year-round. A dense planting as a low hedge creates a stunning landscape presentation. Plant spreads through runners in the soil; will fill in a planter. Beautiful as a hanging potted plant with cascading branches.

LOCAL RECS

"Firecracker Plant cascades with a fine-textured form and clusters of red, tubular-shaped blooms that hummingbirds frequent. I enjoy using it to contrast with rigid structures like Agave, Yucca, Mediterranean Fan Palm or Bird of Paradise."

– Harry Villarreal, Landscape Designer Gills Garden Center & Landscape Co.

@gills.corpus

FUN FACTS

Firecracker plants are a major hummingbird attractor. A hedgerow of firecracker plants can attract dozens of hummingbirds at a time, hovering around the flowers and drinking pollen. However, the cover and concealment of these gorgeous plants creates the ideal ambush zone for cats! Each September when the hummers arrive, we bring our farm cats inside to keep them from feasting on hummingbirds who are just stopping by for a drink on their long journey south.