Key Takeaways

Firecracker plant first became popular as an indoor plant , but it ’s a good , cranky annual outdoors , too . Its lithesome , vasiform flowers of bright red have a contrast black band at the tip . It is a native of Mexico .

Firecracker plant life form a bushy suffrutex up to 1 foot high with an adequate or greater spread . Its compact mounding form is to a great extent underwrite with tiny , red flower that appear at all the leaf axil . Leaves are prospicient and narrow .

Grow the banger plant in full sunlight in average but well - drain soil . Plant out after all danger of frost is over . hold an all - use , slow - spill fertilizer at planting . When planting out , pinch out the tips to increase bushiness . Space them 6 to 12 inch apart , depending on the length of the grow time of year . They are repeated in frost - free area and can be shear back to maintain their shapeliness .

A hummingbird sucking nectar from a firecracker flower.

By seed or by cuttings . Seeds may be sown in the garden after the stain has warm . They need light to germinate well – so scarcely cover them . For earlier bloom , seed seed indoors 8 to 12 weeks prior to engraft out . Seeds germinate in 8 to 10 day at 70 to 85 degree F. Cuttings steady down easily in 10 to 14 days .

apply them as butt against plant life for borders or in rock garden . They are also good container plants , with growth flowing over the edges of hang field goal , window corner , or other planters . leg can be tailor and used in flower arrangement .

banger plant related species : Cuphea hyssopifolia , or Mexican heather , is a tender perennial used primarily for retire out , except in frost - spare areas . leave-taking are tiny , and the plant is nearly becloud by the pocket-sized whitened , lavender , or lilac - color flowers that blossom over a long season . Growing to 1 ft , it propagate panoptic than its top .

banger plant related varieties : Matchless is a rounded , compendious plant with fiery flower .

Firecracker plant scientific name : Cuphea ignea

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