Fireglow Firecracker Flower

Fireglow Firecracker Flower (Crossandra infundibuliformis 'Fireglow') is one of the few reliable flowering plants for a warm, shaded border. It grows to about 60cm tall and 50cm wide, with glossy dark foliage and fan shaped spikes of apricot orange through the warm months. Most garden colour demands full sun, which is what makes this one useful.

Why you'll love it

• Orange colour in part shade. The flowers open in filtered light under a canopy or on a shaded patio, where a sun loving bedding plant would go leggy and stop.
• A long flowering season. In a warm climate the spikes keep opening from spring through to autumn, one flower at a time up each spike.
• Neat and compact. At 60cm by 50cm it stays where you put it, which suits a defined border edge or a pot that has to look tidy.
• Butterflies work it hard. The tubular florets are built for long tongued pollinators, and butterflies find a massed planting quickly.

Where it works best

Borders and edging. Plant 40cm apart for a continuous run of colour along a path or the front of a shaded bed, so each plant reaches full width and knits into its neighbours.

Mass planting under trees. Set on a 40cm grid, it turns the dim ground under an established canopy into a block of orange. Groups of seven or more read best.

Pots, balconies and courtyards. A pot 250mm or wider is enough. Because it tolerates part shade, it works on a covered balcony where most flowering plants sulk.

Growing firecracker flower in Australia

Position and climate. Part shade, or morning sun with protection from hot afternoon light. This is a tropical, subtropical and warm temperate plant, heat and humidity tolerant, so Queensland and northern New South Wales suit it. It is frost tender, so further south treat it as a pot plant.

Soil. Rich, free draining soil with plenty of organic matter dug through before planting. It dislikes heavy wet clay around the crown, so raise the bed if drainage is poor, and mulch to keep the root zone cool.

Water and feed. Keep the soil evenly moist through spring and summer, when the flowering happens, and ease back over winter. A balanced slow release fertiliser in early spring, topped up with liquid feed, keeps the spikes coming.

Pruning. Pinch the growing tips on young plants for a bushier shape. Remove finished spikes to encourage the next round, and cut the plant back by about a third at the end of winter.

What to expect when it arrives

This variety is grown as tube stock, the single size we sell it in. Tube stock arrives as a young rooted plant, usually 10cm to 15cm tall, which is the sensible way to buy a plant used in numbers along a border. Expect it to flower properly around three to four months after planting, sooner if it goes in during spring.

Small soft plants like this travel best when potted on or planted within a day or two of arrival. Keep them out of direct sun and evenly watered for the first fortnight. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95, under our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Designing a tropical garden that looks lush year round
• Browse plants suited to partial shade
• Compare bee and butterfly plants
• The full tropical garden plant range

Common questions

How much sun does it actually need?

Part shade suits it best: morning sun with shelter from hot afternoon light, or dappled shade under a canopy. Deep shade reduces the flowering, and hot afternoon sun inland will scorch the leaves.

How far apart should I plant it?

Forty centimetres apart for a continuous border or a massed drift. Each plant reaches about 50cm across, so on that spacing they overlap slightly and the soil between them disappears.

Will it survive winter in a cool climate?

Not in the ground. It is frost tender and rated for tropical, subtropical and warm temperate gardens. Further south, grow it in a pot and move it into shelter before the first frosts.