Cute Cuphea
Cuphea hyssopifolia is also known by it's common names which include Elfin Herb, False Heather, and Hawaiian Heather. The Cuphea is a small evergreen shrub, growing only to around 50 cm tall, but it grows fairly quickly. It has small shiny green leaves and attractive small flowers which can be white, purple, lavender or mauve. It flowers all year round, and can be grown in pots or in the garden. Plant your Cupheas in a full sun or semi-shaded position, and mix up the colours to create a really nice display. The best climate for growing them is cool-temperate to warm, and they are easy to grow, and have few pests or diseases. These plants spread by self-seeding, and they can layer themselves to create new plants.
Cuphea hyssopifolia, commonly called Mexican heather, is native from Mexico to Guatemala. It is a rounded, densely branched 1-2’ tall tropical sub-shrub. It produces quaint, small, trumpet-shaped flowers with six spreading lavender petals and green calyx tubes. Flowers appear singly in the leaf axils along stems crowded with lance-shaped glossy green leaves (to 3/4” long). Blooms profusely summer to frost. Although heather-like in appearance, this plant is not a member of the heather family, hence the sometimes used common name of false heather. Some white- and pink-flowered cultivars are available. Flowers are attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies.
Winter hardy to USDA Zones 9-11. In the St. Louis area, it is grown as an annual, container plant or houseplant. In the garden, it is easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soils in full sun. May be grown from seed started indoors 8-10 weeks before last frost date. Tolerates high summer heat and some drought. Best with regular moisture. If grown in containers, plants may be overwintered indoors in warm, sunny locations. Easily propagated from tip cuttings. Best to start new plants each year, however.
Source: http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=282494&isprofile=0&
Fav. comment Award ! Thanks for the great Pics and information.
Cuphea comes in a wide variety of colors, shapes, and flower sizes. Its small, often tubular blossoms wear shades of orange, bright yellow, red, white, purple, and neon pink in differing combos. Many of these flowers feature large modified petals that give the appearance of ears. Up close, the flowers can resemble mice or bats hence its common names Mouse flower and Bat flower. Because of its small size and dense habit, cuphea makes a welcome addition to mixed containers and garden plantings without diminishing the effects of other plants. Cuphea attracts both hummingbirds and pollinators.
Native to the Americas, cuphea thrives in the heat of summer and when planted in well-drained soil. While it prefers consistent moisture throughout the growing season, once this plant is established it can tolerate drought and continue to impress with its large number of flowers. Fertilize cuphea regularly throughout the summer for the best, biggest, and most consistent display.
Even though there are more than 250 species in the family, cuphea is still considered a relative newcomer in the world of ornamental horticulture. In the past few years, breeders have introduced new varieties that create larger, showier flowers on plants with the same great heat tolerance and longevity as before. Ongoing research on the use of this plant for oilseed production seeks to lessen reliance on coconut and palm oils, which destroys tropical habitats. Additional research shows promising results for use of cuphea as a rotational crop; it appears that wheat and corn yields increase when those grains are grown after a year of raising cuphea.
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Silly Sausage Award ! Very nice selection of Pics.
@ctrl-alt-nwo,
Yeah I saw this plant in my country also! But it came here few years ago! Before that i have not seen this plant in here! Like you said, it's small but beautiful and well suited + favorite gardening plant as well! Nice photography and description about this plant! Personally I am lacking with the knowledge of these plants, so have no idea about their names! But sometimes I could identify few of favorite flower plants in here as well!
Cheers~
A round ball-like bush has fine, twiggy growth covered in heath-like foliage and is covered with small, star-shaped purple flowers for most of the year. It is fast growing, and tends to self-seed. C. hyssopifolia ‘Cocktail’ has yellow-green foliage and purple-pink flowers; ‘Midget’ has fine foliage with masses of dark purple flowers; ‘White Star’ has dark green foliage with white flowers in summer and autumn. C. hyssopifolia ‘Lemon & Ice’ has lime-green or golden foliage and pure white flowers. ‘Lemon Squash’ also has lime-green foliage, which is contrasted with lilaccoloured flowers.
http://plantinfo.co.za/plant/cuphea-hyssopifolia/
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This is a small shrub with a neat, rounded growth habit, tiny leaves and masses of dainty little flowers for much of the year. Plants seldom grow much taller than 30 cm and can be cut or clipped regularly to maintain a neat, tidy appearance. Available in a range of different colours, white, mauve and purple the most notable, hybrids are ‘Lemon Squash’ with pale lime foliage and lavender flowers and ‘Cocktail’ which has rich golden foliage and contrasting purple flowers. All of them succeed in both sun and shade and require very little attention except for protection from frost in the colder regions. Cuphea also makes wonderful edging plants when clipped into low, boxed hedges approximately 20 to 30 cm high.
Link: https://www.thegardener.co.za/cuphea-hyssopifolia-hybrids/
I always like Heather, so these colourful flowers are very attractive and easy to grow. I just found a shop here on the internet where I could buy imported seeds. I’ll have to look for some.
Cheers.
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This is such cute flower
Beautiful unpretentious plants.
This species also has another name - false mexican heather. This sprawling shrub reaches a height of 60 cm. The stems are flat, branching resemble fern. The leaves are small, oblong. It blooms very lush and long, almost throughout the summer.
The flowers are star-shaped, small, numerous, with pronounced petals at the end of the yellow tubule. They are sterile and do not give seeds. But they have an enviable variety of colors: from purple to white.
The look is different in shade tolerance, but it blooms more brightly in bright light, although it does not tolerate direct sunlight.
The shoots of Kufei, with the asexual, are characterized by rapid growth and lignification. Cuttings root easily. Every few years the bush is recommended to rejuvenate the division. This species can also be grown in the form of bonsai.
https://leplants.ru/cuphea-hyssopifolia/
Cuphea hyssopifolia, the false heather, Mexican heather, Hawaiian heather or elfin herb, is a small evergreen shrub native to Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. It grows to about 60 cm (24 in) high by 90 cm (35 in) wide and has purple, lavender or white coloured flowers and fine foliage.
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The Latin word hyssopifolia (which also occurs in several other plant names, including that of Bassia hyssopifolia) means "hyssop-leafed".
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The species is naturalised in Hawaii, and regarded as a serious weed there.
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the species adapts to a range of soils in a sunny or partially shaded situation with good drainage. It can be cultivated outdoors in USDA hardiness zones 8B-11. In colder regions it may be cultivated as an annual. Plants may be propagated by cuttings, layering or division. They seed freely, and new seedlings that appear are easily transplanted.
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