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| Category: Shrub |
| Family: Lythraceae (Loosestrife) |
| Origin: Garden Origin |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Flower Color: Orange |
| Bloomtime: Year-round |
| Parentage: (C. ignea x C. micropetala) |
| Height: 4-6 feet |
| Width: 4-6 feet |
| Exposure: Sun or Shade |
| Summer Dry: Yes |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 0-10° F |
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Cuphea 'David Verity' (Large Firecracker Plant) - This fast growing evergreen shrub grows to 5 to 6 feet tall with 3/4 in long dark green leaves borne along delicate thin brown stems. Nearly year round this plant produces an abundance of narrow tubular dark orange flowers with short yellow-orange flared tips and exerted purple filaments. Plant in full sun to light shade. Water occasionally in hotter climates but requires little irrigation in coastal gardens, especially if in part sun. This plant has proven hardy and evergreen at least down to 15 F and in colder locations down to 5 F., where it resprouts from it base. This great dense growing shrub provides nearly year round color and it an absolute hummingbird magnet. This presumed hybrid between Cuphea ignea and C. micropetala was given to David Verity, then the manager of the UCLA Mildred Mathias Botanic Garden, in the mid 1970's by a gardening friend who had found the plant in their Los Angeles garden. It was given to Steve Brigham in 1976 and later named by him when he published the name in the 1984 Kartuz Nursery catalog. We received our plant from Buena Creek Gardens, Steve Brighams's great nursery in San Marcos, CA in the 1980's and our garden plant is over 5 feet tall with an equal width. Steve notes that this plant "takes sun or shade and even drought and heat ... it's an evergreen and everblooming shrub that I have long claimed to be the most popular plant with hummingbirds of any plant I've ever grown."
The information about Cuphea 'David Verity' displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
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