Anyone else grow this one? My camera does not do it justice; the colors are much deeper and the leaves especially are deeply quilted and a rich dark green; in some light they often have a reddish cast to them . This is one of my favorites.
Justicia carnea 'Radient'
I haven't, but it is on my list! Does it like shade?
A close up of the flowers.
Actually mine gets almost full sun (the tree you see in the photo was cut down but we had them leave the stump at about 5' just for interest. My regular old fashioned justicias, or jacobinias as they are still known in the Lowcountry, do need filtered sun.
Okay, thanks. It is very striking with the dark green glossy leaves..any tips for when I start growing mine? Right now I'm wrestling with a jade vine and keeping it happy.
I got this one as baby in a 2" pot. It has taken several years to reach 3'. It is hardy here but you will likely have to protect it during the winter. I would start ASAP; it is a neat plant.
Hi Ardesia!
I love these too. I have had mine for a few months and they have been in constant bud or bloom since. Mine must have shade and plenty of water here in FL. They can take the heat and humidity, but not the sun at all in my locale.
I got them because they will bloom in the shade and the leaves stay a nice deep green for me. I have kept them in pots because the bed I wanted them for wasn't ready, but I will be putting them in the ground this weekend.
While "testing" their placement I noticed that while in the sun that the leaves get a little droopy, alot lighter and a golden tinge to them. I didn't like the way they looked so I moved them back in the shade. They have gotten very little or no sun at all and are blooming like crazy!
Then they wouldn't here either- I have found that shade means- at least one to two hours of full sun at some point in the day. I have an australian fern (tree) and everything I read was adamant about shade. Last year when Hurricane Rita tumbled the 100 year old giant pecan tree next door, it gets all afternoon sun from about 2pm, and it is growing like a weed.
Okay- I will make a note to start it soon, I have a green house to overwinter stuff- which reminds me, it's time to pencil in "get the green house ready" on the calendar.
Rjudd, my brain is missing today, I just realized you are in Houston so you will not need to protect it during the winter; our climates are a lot alike.
Shella, we are slightly cooler here than Clearwater and that may make the difference. My plant gets full midday sun; it is protected in the morning and it is on the east side of that tree so it misses the hot afternoon blast.
Well that explains it ! I was wondering how yours could look so great in full sun all day!
I am really looking forward to mine getting as big as yours.
Do you fertilize it?
I sprinkled a bit of Plant Tone on the ground in the spring and I have sprayed it with Messenger every few weeks.
It really gets a lot more sun than I thought it could take - from about 10 to 4. This plant took so long to get going I am wondering if it did not want more sun all along.
Thanks for the info!
FL is so different from anyplace else regarding recommendations for shade or sun...we can't follow what the catalogs say. We have to modify "full sun" to mean "part sun part shade" and so forth. So my plant would require more shade here than yours does there. Being in pots they have become a bit pot bound while waiting for me to get their home ready . I feed them weak compost tea and they have more than doubled in size since I bought them.
We have a few months of warm weather to go... so once I get them in the ground they should grow a bit more before "winter" arrives.
I know what you mean about the sun requirements. You are certainly "sunnier" than us but not by that much. When folks move here from up north they are always amazed that full sun anywhere else means filtered sun here. Then we also have to consider too little or too much drainage in our soils.
Living on the coast does have it's challanges but that just keeps things in perspective. Other than that, what could we possibly complain about living in paradise. :-))))))))
I have two of them in the garden, and they do bloom...when the deer aren't eating them :( They propagate by cuttings, so thats on my list to do and they are supposed to be hardy here in zone 7b. Not sure if that means that they die back and return in the spring-although I think thats the way it will be.
I have one in shade for most of the day and then mid-late afternoon sun and one that gets morning sun, and it seems to like either. It does dry out more easily than alot of the plants around it.
Wow, I had no idea they might be hardy in the Raleigh area. I bought my plant a couple of years ago from Logees and they had a zone 10 on it at that time. Well, we know that's not correct.
i really like mine and they are constantly blooming, however i find they need lots of shade. they start whining at the first sight of direct sunlight!
Pretty flowers ardesia.... I have an ancient Justicia carnea, (maybe 30 years old) not sure if it is "'Radient" but looks like yours. I have had them in filtered sun and heavy shade. They bloom all summer either place. I spray with MG about every two weeks while they are blooming. I have never tried to leave them out overwinter. but they are easy to over winter inside and usually bloom over winter if I don't cut back too much.
Betty
Thanks Betty, I have the old ones too and the only difference is that his one has much larger flowers and the color is much deeper. It is hard to show in a picture. Also, for some obscure reason, this particular plant does not mind sun. As you can see above, others with this cultivar have not found this to be true.
Does anyone know if this is the same as what I know as 'Brazilian plume'? I'll attach a pic and it sure looks the same. It lives in a pot year round and comes back nicely. I guess this means it would survive in the ground...I'm in 8b.
That's it Bugme (cute name BTW). Around here it is I often caIled a Lowcountry geranium.
Thanks Ardesia.........I can now properly label my "pretty". The name was due to every other one I could come up with was taken and it was bugging me............LOL.
Sharon
I have some of them and they are called Pink Plumes. They bloom over and over and the snales and slugs love them and I have a heck of a time keeping them from eating all the leaves off but otherwise it blooms almost all year round here. Root by cuttings or cut off some of the mother plants to start another one. Fran
I have these in zone 9 N.CA. I have some in pots and some in the ground. All are in bright shade. They bloom over and over here. Easy to start from cuttings too.
I love this plant.
Linda
Hi Everybody,
Have any of you heard the Jacobina referred to as a parrot flower? One of my friends are looking for a parrot flower but nobody knows what it is.
Jeri
No,
I've heard it called a Flamingo Flower because of the flower color. Maybe someone else has heard it called that.
Go to the plant files and type in Parrot flower under common name. They look different than Justicia
But would be interested to know if you find out more.
Shella :)
Fran,
You just helped me figure out why the one I have planted in my front flowerbed has chewed off leaves!! Darn snails!! I had no idea what was eating it!! son of a guns! LOL I have one in my backyard flowerbed which gets shade up until noon and then it is in full sun all day. It is growing like crazy!!
I also didn't realize they were easy to root from cuttings. So I will have to do that with the bigger one in case I loose the battle with the snails on the other one.
Thanks so much for the info!!!
Lisa