I had the same missunderstanding. I got the dwarf firebush with the assumption that it would be smaller.

Now I know it is called that way because of the size of the leaves but in my experience the bush can become even larger than the standard firebush.

In my case, (top part of Z9b) the winter kills it to the ground and it comes back ot a nice size but if there is no freezes, it will continue growing. I saw one in my zone as tall as 5 ft tall and wide.

I guess you can always trim it in early spring

Hope it helps

Thank you fagopher. Today I was at the green market and the lady there said that they do stay around 3' with proper trimming. LOL what does that mean trim every month. Anyone else have experience?

I had a dwarf that stayed under 7ft tall with pruning 3x a summer! It was up to the rain gutters! It was so much work I finally had my DH dig it out, which was a good thing because the roots were all the way under the house.

That said, this is a great plant if you give it the room to grow. It does get about 5' wide and 7' tall and will provide a good screen if you need it. Very hardy, though this last winter's freeze really knocked it down and that's when we dug it out.

Julie

Yes I have a photo of the regular size one here.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5528416/attract_hummingbirds_with_firebush.html?cat=32

Julie thats what I was thinking, 3 times a season LOL. Was it the one with yellow flowers?

Thanks moongarden I have 2 of the regular sized one for the bflys. It isn't a color I especially like but they sure do.

I got a dwarf with the yellow flowers going to put it in a spot that it can grow large. Actually I need to to screen out a neighbors view of my back yard so it will probably stay small :0)