All of the documentation I have read on hamelia patens says it gets berries and yet mine has not ever produced berries. Now I'm wondering if this plant is doiescious and there are male and female plants. Does anyone know? Perhaps I have the male.
Hamelia patens male and female plants?
It may just be too early for berries. My plant is still busy growing and putting out flowers. The berries should come after the flowers are completely gone. Msfeather, how old is your Mexican Firebush? Is it inground or in a pot?
Carla
Hi, Carla! I do apologize for the long delay in responding to your very helpful reply. I have about 3 hamelias that are at least 5 years old. They are in the ground. They get maybe 5 hours per day. Perhaps they are not getting enough sun.
Am thinking they are not getting enough sun. I have hedges of firebush on each side of my driveway. The ones on east side are shaded by a huge oak and the ones on the west side get lots more sun. The ones that get lots of sun put out berries...but they fall to the ground or get eaten by birds, I assume.
~ Cat
I have two Mexican Firebush that do get little bitty berries. I was wondering why no seedlings ever appeared in all the years I've had them. So I tried to look that up and I found something that said that all the MF sold in Texas are pretty much clones from 2 MF down in Laredo and therefore make no viable seed. Hmmm. It would be interesting to bring a few up that aren't and see what happens. Then this year I found a small plant near my plants. Only I don't know if it was from seed or an underground runner. It looked like it could have been connected to the mother plant. I didn't dig far back that way to make sure. I've only heard of propagating MF by seed or cuttings...apparently it's usually cuttings in the U. S. Anyway, the plant I dug up I took to a swap and traded it. I love the MF. Mine are outside my fence in all-day sun, growing in caliche and rock and I don't even water them after all these years. I didn't have them yet the year it got down to 5°F here, but it has survived many freezes in the teens and always comes back.