I have both. I got the red one first and planted it in full sun in an area that stays too dry. The poor plant has suffered. It blooms in the fall/winter till it gets too cold. The leaves are different, lighter green. The purple one I got as a cutting and raised it till it was big enough to plant this spring. It is blooming now - is in partial shade and loves it. The leaves are a darker green. It is dark now but I can check to see about the texture. On mine the spikes on the pruple are longer than on the red but then it is healthier. In fact we just moved the red one next to the purple on this last weekend.

Both of mine are in bloom right now. They are planted in the same bed so I assume they are getting the exact same stuff.

I have purple only. When I bought it I was told the purple needs more shade than the red and grows bigger.. Can't tell yet...

Hope it helps

FYI, there is a mangenta and a lavender one as well. Also one they call pink, but that might be the lavender one.

Thanks everyone for the info. I planted both types close together but the purple one will get more shade. I'm hoping they entice some hummingbirds to my yard. I've had a few visiting since March but I want to see MORE of those cute little darlings!

Thanks again,
Annette

I have the red Firespike and am looking for the Lavendar and Purple Firespike. Does anyone have cuttings for trade?
Thanks.

Actually, this is the time of year for the red to bloom, and the purple usually blooms in late winter/early spring. But sometimes they get mixed up. (The plants don't read the books.) I have both red & purple, and my experience has been the purple ones prefer at least some shade, while the red ones seem to be more sun tolerant. However, both my purple and my red are planted in part sun/part shade, and both have done well. So maybe they aren't really fussy.

My red ones do seem to have a more crinkly leaf.

Marcia

Hi Jen,

I have the purple (I think), mine are not too big yet but I can get a few cuttings (not too long though).. If you are close to seminole county send me an e-mail.

Fabio

As Marcia said, in Central Florida the red Firespike tends to start blooming in late summer and autumn while the purple one starts blooming in early spring. I find that the red ones are the preferred flower for hummingbirds just before they leave in the fall and the purple ones start blooming just as they come back in the springÂfor me at least. I have lots of the red Firespike and two big purple ones. They are all in mostly shade and bloom well. The red one seems to be the best for attracting hummers for me.

They both will get well over ten feet tall and they will spread out in width also.

Tom, your experiences are exactly the same as mine, and I do think this is the norm for our area. Of course, there are always exceptions, but generally, this seems to be what they do around here.

Marcia

And Fabio, during what months has your purple flowered?

Hi Four
I'm not sure if Fabio still visits us and he might not see this question, so I will tell you that my Purple Firespike started blooming in the fall, maybe Sept. I remember being surprised at its earliness this year.

There's a picture of the one I put in the ground in the shade on another thread called Not Much Color, click below and you can see the color of mine - maybe it's the one they call magenta ~?

Anyways, it will keep blooming til spring and it is full of butterflies today.

Hope this helps,
Susie

Here is a link that might be useful: Not Much Color in the Garden

I guess that the firespikes, like other plants, bloom at different times in different zones and conditions. My red firespike are just about finished blooming, while the purple ones aren't anywhere near blooming.

I live in Clermont, Susie, which isn't too far from where you live...

I live in Panama City, Fl. and my red is almost done, while the purple is going strong.

Red FS can bloom any time of the year, usually heaviest during the warmer months. The Purple blooms starting in fall. It is triggered by the shorter daylengths.

Be careful with the Purple FS in moist shady areas. It can seed heavily and come up everywhere.

Rather than amending the post that I posted a few days ago I thought I would just add a new one. I checked my purple firespikes two days ago and they are blooming! I don't know why this is happening, because before this they bloomed in the spring--actually starting in late February through the middle of April. I'm not sure why they are blooming now.

Also, my white powderpuff is blooming. I thought of removing it a few years ago because it didn't bloom. The freezes in December and January would kill back the plant just when it started blooming. This year it looks like it will have great bloom. It seems like all the pollinators love this plant--just like the dwarf red powderpuff, which blooms on and off for me most of the year.

Hi everyone,
Wow, I can't believe it's been 5 1/2 years since I bought those firespikes! I like the firespikes so much that when I moved a couple of years ago I rooted some extras and brought them with me!
The first year I had them they bloomed at the same time, but since then, the purples seem to bloom more during the late winter / early spring timeframe while the reds stay in bloom almost all the time. In fact, the reds are in heavy bloom now and are providing a resident hummingbird several meals a day (along with red lion's tail).

Hi Annette
Glad you reported back on your firespikes. I just got a Red baby at the Oct swap at Dawn's and I'm excited to hear that hummers are visiting yours.

Can you tell me if lion's tail is the same as lion's mane? I got "lion's mane" seeds in the mail and can't seem to find info. Thanks and sorry to get off topic . . .

Susie

Hi Susie,
I think they're one in the same. By the looks of the photos I've seen on the web, they are the same. I've had the red one for years (another plant I brought along with me) and have never seen another one at any plant nursery I've visited.

I picked up an orange one this year. Its plant habit is somewhat different from the red as it is shorter, bushier, and the flowers have more fuzz on them. The orange one is more like a shrub, while the red sends long narrow branches straight up from the ground in clumps. Some of the branches are 6 feet tall! They are cold sensitive. Mine has died back to the ground several times, but always comes back. I hope it survives tomorrow night...

Annette

Yes, let's hope it won't get as cold as they think!

You may be more fortunate over there on the coast.

Thanks for the info and I will start my lion's mane/tail seeds and be watching for the hummers this spring.

Susie

To all :
Central FL winters 2012-13 and 2013-14 were mild.
Did your Firespike plants do ok through either?
susieqsie's did (reported in different thread); am prompting for more reports.

Whether they make it intact, burned or fried , I still cut them way back come spring. Purple and magenta get way to big over the summer.

I only have the purple variety, The ones I had on the somewhat exposed west side of my house got killed back to the roots, but are now over 6' tall. The ones I had planted on the south side against my lanai wall survived and bloomed around March.

I have both varieties--perhaps six or seven different red ones in different places and three or four purple ones in one large, shaded area.

All did very well over the last few winters. The red ones are still blooming. They have never been as healthy or as heavily-blooming as they are now. For me the purple ones bloom in the early spring, just a little before the spring hummingbird migration into Florida. I would never cut mine back at this time of the year since it would kill many possible blooms. The purple ones do get very tall, but for me that isn't a problem.

If you read the post......come spring!

I have red, pink and purple. Red was the first one and it blooms well. The pink and purple not a lot but they hevent been in the ground that long. The winter here 8b seems a bit rough. They basically have to start over every year. the hummers love the red. i noticed they are easy to propagate. If a branch breaks I stick it in soil and off it goes 😊

I am in zone 9b. I wouldn't recommend any color other than red for people in zone 8 or below. I have red, mauve, purple and pink. The red is by far the best in my zone. It will bloom for about five months--August through December. All of the others are freeze sensitive, in that they won't bloom if we get a hard freeze for any period of time. The mauve starts blooming in early December and continues into February. The purple and the pink start in late January or early February and still have some blooms now. However, if there is a freeze I won't get hardly any blooms from the mauve or pink and very few from the purple. This year it has been very warm and all have bloomed profusely.