Best planted in full sun in a well-drained soil and, while exceptionally drought tolerant, it looks best with occasional to infrequent irrigation in summer but only if soil drains well. In heavier soils that don't drain well be careful not to overwater as these plants do not like wet heavy soil in summer – better not water them at all in these conditions. Hardy to 5-10 degrees F. After the first year of establishment trim back or shear plants in mid-winter for a neater appearance the following season. A great plant in a native and mediterranean climate dry garden - mixes well with other dry growing shrubs and succulents and is attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies. As with other California Fuchsia this plant is brittle and breaks easily, so use care in its placement when planting.

Epilobium canum is primarily distributed in southern and central California growing in coastal areas and the foothills up to 5,000 feet but can be found other western states including Arizona, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico north up into Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming where it is mainly found in arid mountainous areas. While the genus name Epilobium is now considered current, this group of sub-shrubs used to be called Zauschneria and are so different from the other Epilobium, herbaceous plants often called Fireweeds, that many California native plant enthusiast and even the experts often still refer to them by this previous name. This former name Zauschneria was given the genus by the Czechoslovakian naturalist Karel (Charles) Borivoj Presl in 1831 to honor his fellow Czech, Johann Baptista Josef Zauschner (1737–1799), a professor of medicine and amateur botanist. The name Epilobium comes from the Greek word 'epi' meaning "upon" and 'lobium' meaning "a pod" in reference to the flowers being superior, meaning that they sit above the developing seed capsules. The specific epithet means "gray" or "ash colored" in reference to the foliage color.

The cultivar 'Diamondback' came out of a breeding program conducted by Scott Trees at the Ball Ornamental Plant facility in Guadalupe, California. The goal of the program was to produce plants with attractive flower coloration and a moderately vigorous, mounded-trailing growth habit. 'Diamondback' was the result of open pollination of a proprietary white Epilobium canum cultivar code named 'ZAU-109' that occurred in 2011 and was selected as the single plant from this progeny. Previously Ball Hort introduced a plant they named 'Sidewinder' that we also grew. Compared to this previous introduction 'Diamondback' has larger darker green leaves and a lighter orange flower color compared to the darker red-orange flowers of 'Sidewinder'. 'Diamondback' received its US Plant Patent PP27,173 in December 2016. Image on this page courtesy of Ball Horticulture. 

The information displayed on this page about Epilobium canum 'Diamondback' is based on the research we conducted about it in our nursery horticultural library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include some of our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.