Click on image for full screen view.

Rubiaceae

From May to October, scarlet bouvardia blooms continuously and profusely with clusters of striking scarlet-red, two-inch trumpet-shaped flowers at the tips of its leafy branches. Native to rocky sites in West Texas and Arizona south through Mexico, usually in mountains and canyons, it is heat and drought tolerant, but not reliably cold hardy in the northern half of Texas, where it is best used as an annual. It makes a showy accent plant, either in a pot or the landscape, and since it attracts any hummingbird in its immediate vicinity, it is a good plant to place close to patios, arbors, windows, or any viewing area. It does best in full sun or partial shade and neutral to acid soils, becoming chlorotic in the highly alkaline soils of Texas west of I-35. Light pruning to remove spent flowers will help it maintain a compact shape.

Plant Habit or Use: small shrub

Exposure: sun
partial sun

Flower Color: scarlet red

Blooming Period: summer
fall

Fruit Characteristics: small round capsule

Height: to 3 feet

Width: to 2 feet

Plant Character: deciduous

Heat Tolerance: very high

Water Requirements:

Soil Requirements: acid
neutral

USDA Hardiness Zone: 9

Additional Comments: