From the Waterwise plant sale, spring 2018 and each spring after
Cuphea hyssopifolia "Cubano Cristo'
From Newman's, spring 2024
This is grown as an annual here.
This is grown as an annual here.
Keep moist and fertilized. Full sun, doesn't do well in shade.
A great long blooming pretty plant.
In 2021 I had it in the turquoise pot and liked its elegance and the contrast with the pot color and the clean green leaves.
It had been moved and replanted in the pot, so it was small.
In 2022 I repeated it in the turquoise pot and it was leggier, with darker leaves. Not sure why, I may have over fertilized it?
I didn't like it as well, although it did bloom non stop all summer. I ended up taking it out and putting it in the garden, up against the neighbor's garage wall, where its dark leaves looked good.
In 2020 I had one in the white "cement" pot in full sun by the kitchen door and one plant at the back corner of the potting bench curve, where it might be too shady.
The one in the shade did not do well, and I took it out. But the one in full sun in the white pot looked absolutely great.
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| July 21, 2020 |
In 2018 and 2019 I had put this in a pot out in the hot, dry, sunny gravel in front, nestled among the dwarf chamisas and a cholla cactus.
The tiny flowers are dark orange, and the shrubby habit looks informal in the pot. The small, narrow flowers are kind of delicate, but the combination with dark pot, gravel and cactus is nice.
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| June 23, 2018 |
The tiny flowers are dark orange, and the shrubby habit looks informal in the pot. The small, narrow flowers are kind of delicate, but the combination with dark pot, gravel and cactus is nice.
Hummingbirds love the orange tubes.
In 2024 on a visit to the Heritage Garden at Pam's community in Mission Viejo, I saw a couple cupheas planted in the ground and they made a nice open but bushy form among other nearby plants.
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| 2024 at the Heritage Garden |
On a whim I picked up a smaller cuphea hyssopifolia called Mexican Heather at Newman's in 2024. It has deep red little tubular flowers. Sources say it is magenta, but the little plug shows wine red blooms.
It is much smaller than the dark orange flowered hybrid David Verity, which I loved, but this allows me to tuck it in anywhere.
