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wallisadi

Magenta Firespike.....

wallisadi
9 years ago

Have the red and light purple, but this is the prettiest I think....

Comments (11)

  • whgille
    9 years ago

    Hi M, I have the red and the purple from you and I have to agree on the Magenta Firespike being a pretty pink, I got it from Tom. They all do so well in the garden and add a pop of color, good and easy care plants.

    {{gwi:2125569}}

    Silvia

  • Tom
    9 years ago

    I have never been able to purchase a Magenta Firespike. I have the red ones and the purple ones and love them both. My purple ones look like the pictures above and are just starting to bloom. Mine are quite tall, perhaps around twelve feet high and growing up into trees that shade them. Like the red ones, the purple firespike spreads by underground stems and become large stands of tall plants.

    My problem with the purple firespike is that if we get a hard freeze this time of year they may not bloom at all. We haven't had a hard freeze where I live (Central Florida) for two or three years, so they have done well.

  • Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
    9 years ago

    I think maturity as well as protection help in how well the firespike handles the cold. I have two stands of 'blue' which look like the magenta, so probably the same variety. One stand is on the northwest side of my house and screens my AC unit. Every year it gets hammered by the cold winds and every year it dies back, but each year it seems to die back less and less. This year only about the top 1/4 of the plant completely died and on the lower 3/4 the leaves burned, but quickly came back.

    My other stand is on the south side of my house and gets morning sun during the winter months but is shaded by an oak for the rest of the day. It is planted along the wall of my lanai so it is sheltered, but not completely so as the lanai's screening allows the chill winds to still blow through, though slowed a bit. This stand never even bats an eye at the cold and continues to grow through the winter as if nothing is wrong. It is starting to send up it's spikes now and should be blooming within the next couple of weeks. I will be lucky if I see blooms on the NW stand, but once the weather starts warming again, it will quickly grow back to its screening size.

    My biggest issue with Firespike is how easy it is to propagate. Too easy. When I prune back my plants, I set the canes and leaves on concrete and let it sit in the sun for a couple weeks to make sure it's dead and dried. I have found 1-inch bits of canes and even a leaf rooting themselves in my compost pile. If one isn't careful when pruning or removing these plants, they could end up with a larger population of firespike than they originally wanted.

  • wisconsitom
    9 years ago

    What is the scientific name for that plant?

    +oM

  • Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
    9 years ago

    Odontonema strictum

  • wisconsitom
    9 years ago

    Thanks Leekle. I'm always on the lookout for tropicalesque things which might be employed up here in the summertime. Not saying this is, necessarily, but the aesthetic characteristics suggest it might be worth a look.

    Other examples of plants from down thataway that I either have or will be trialing are Mexican Flame Vine (Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides), and possibly Crossandra. In the past, I've had much success with variegated tapioca (Manihot esculenta) and really, a bunch of others.

    +oM

  • Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
    9 years ago

    If you want one for the blooms, go with a red variety. The Reds bloom in late summer/early fall when days are getting shorter while the 'purples' bloom in the cold of 'winter' as the days start getting longer.

  • Tom
    9 years ago

    The Odontonema strictum is what we normally call "red firespike." At least that's what I mean when I say "red firespike."

    I think the other firespikes are variations of what is labeled as "Odontonema callistachyum." When I see the entry for this plant in the website it say this plant has these possible colors:
    Magenta (Pink-Purple)
    Fuchsia (Red-Purple)
    Violet/Lavender
    Purple

    Personally, I find this confusing--have felt this way for a long time. I have not been able to find any formal name for the Magenta, or Fuchia, or Violet/Lavender. Nor have I ever been able to find a nursery online that advertises any other firespike other than the two above. The pictures on Dave's Garden show various colors, but all are supposedly Odontonema callistachyum.

  • whgille
    9 years ago

    Hi Tom123

    You are welcome to get the magenta firespike cuttings from my garden anytime. They are probably the easiest ones to propagate without even trying.:)
    When I got mine in the mail from Tom, I just put them in the ground and they took off.
    I also enjoyed the purple and red one in the garden, mine grow very tall like yours and I cut them all the time, they bloom very often.

    The red one in bloom, saw a hummingbird today in that area....

    {{gwi:2125570}}

    Silvia

  • wisconsitom
    9 years ago

    Short-day bloomer then? Wouldn't work for my intended purpose then-taking a tropical thing and bending it to my will here in the north, lol. Nice plants though.

    +oM

  • Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
    9 years ago

    The red ones are not short day, they just seem to start blooming as the days start getting shorter. I've seen them blooming down here in August, when the days are still fairly long.

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