Carolann, This is the plant that I call Firecracker fern, but it doesn't look like the one in your picture.
Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Firecracker

Jim, they called your pic a firecracker fern too. They had yellow and red ones. Just gorgeous.
It's hard to see how graceful and vibrant the fern Carol posted is. It was RED and absolutly covered in red flowers. Lovely plant. PJ

Lastnight I was able to get info on what they called a double firecracker fern but it was after pages and pages of looking.
This plant has the little leaves that a regular one has but no spikey ones, it is really pretty

Maybe this is it. I've never seen it , but would like to.
Rusellia sarmentosa

Here is a link that might be useful: Giant Firecracker Bush

Hehehe, I just found the site I found lastnight
common name, Running Rusellia

That is mighty pretty. I wouldn't mind having one of those.
Jim

Carolann Almost Eden sells it for $6.99, look under russelia mexicana (mexican firecracker fern) it has the bell shaped blooms. The other plant is called just (firecracker fern) russelia equisetiformis. Barbra,

Jim, the blooms look a little bit different. I just fell in love and had to have it but the guys at the nursery didn't know too much about it because it was new this year.
Jim, if it grows fast and I can take cuttings then I'll let you have a cutting. PJ and Jolana too. (of course)

Oh my gosh, I had one of the Russelia equisetiformis that bloomed a lovely creamy white last winter. I got it at Home Depot without a tag and it was a fine office plant for a while. I never knew what it needed and it just dwindled away.

Pam

Jim, just enter your zipcode, that doesn't mean they will have it, lol

Here is a link that might be useful: find a plant

That's a handy web site. According to them, the Houston Garden Centers have it. If so, that means 50% off. I'll go see. Thanks!
Jim

Finders fee? LOL

Jolana, you're stuttering! Haaa!
Jim

I have the one Jim linked, but the other is very pretty too. Did you buy it carolann? I'd like to know how it does for you.

Thanks Barbra, I guess we posted about the same time. lol

Now I'm worried because one site said it's for zone 9.

Dang Jolana, you sure must want that finders fee. lol

Marti, I'll tell you if my cool plant that's maybe for zone 9 croaks. (sniff sniff)

Carolann, maybe you should just send it to me, you know how upset you'll be when it dies!
Jim

Yeah and you notice, he still ignored me, lol
I call dibs, I took her to get it, LOL

Hey! I am in zone 9!

You should just send it to me to keep the poor thing from croaking!

I would give it a GOOD home! Promise!

Janie

Man, leave for a second and everyone is trying to call dibs on my poor widdle plant.
I've really become attached to this poor innocent plant.

Maybe if I find out it's not going to croak here then I'll get rid of it.

....or maybe I'll just have to move to zone 9.

Ooo, even better

I don't think zone 9 is ready for "Girls Gone Wild!"
Jim

Of course zone 9 is ready for GGW! Bongo boy(Mathew Mc Connahey) can be our tour guide! LOL! PJ

It survives thru the low teens easily here in the Canyon Lake area so don't worry too much about the zone 9 designation. Thyrallis is another plant that is called zone 9 but I have had mine 7 years and it has survived high single digits over multiple years. Sarmentosa is the one that I know grows very well in the Canyon Lake area and I do expect the same from the standard equiformis. SOOO go find one and plant it and enjoy. It will take lots of sun but can handle half day sun just fine and still bloom well. I have been getting them from a wholesaler in Corpus for my garden center.
Happy Growing David.
BTW I have three 4 inch potted plants I brought home last fall and I never got them planted and they survived this winter in those tiny pots. Still haven't planted them yet. Keep debating where I am going to put them. The deer seem to leave them alone by all the people I know that have them around this area.

Thanks David, say what can you tell us about a Variegated Vitex, not the one with white edged leaves but truly variegated like a variegated hydrangea, with that sort of coloring
We can't find anything on the web about it,
Thanks, jolana

David, thanks so much for the information. I am SO going to plant it.

You wouldn't want to trade something for one of your small ones would you.

Jim, I'm the good one of the "Wild Bunch". You just have the watch the other two like a hawk. lol

Carolann, if you're the good one......... there is bound to be a bounty on the gang! I mean Wanted Posters and the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List!
Jim

Yeah tell her Jim!!! The good one my behind. I'M Ms Angel comparied to those two! LOL! PJ

Carol: Sorry, I am savin these three for future propagation they are a little slow to get started, though once they get going will do well. I want to offer out both types at the garden center next year so these be my propping pups.
I can't tell ya much about the varigated form other than I had one in a gallon container I didn't get planted this last winter and it died down but never came back. This suprised me cause heh its a vitex and they be tough as nails but maybe the varigated form not so much. Thats all I know so far. Chip had a few at Schumachers last year but I don't know if he got any going so far this year. Anyone else seen any at Chips place?
Happy Growing David

Dang on the varigated Vitex! Maybe a hay filled pot over it for winter? That's such a pain!!! You could do boxes of hay when it got bigger. Maybe it would get more hardy with age and you'd just have to baby it along for a couple years???PJ

David, I would love to see pictures of your yard.
I also want to come see your nursery.

Are you very far from Ft. Worth?

I seem to recall he's by San Antonio. Am I close??? PJ

PJ, very close, I think he is in the Canyon Lake/New Braunfels area, which is very close to San Antonio, lol

I want to see pics also

I haven't spent the time yet to figure out the way to post pix here yet. I do live on the north side of Canyon Lake in a low and cold spot. Someday I will figure out this pic thing but until then I can only say that I do less at home than at work and believe whole heartly in things that do well with minimal maintence is what I gravitate toward in the landscape and the more challenging stuff I do on my deck in containers or that I don't want the DEER to touch aka tomato, Hibiscus, and myriad other goodies that need to be close to the kitchen like my herbs.
I am always glad to share what I have learned and if any of you would like to visit the garden center and chat please do and give me an email and I give you directions.
Happy Growing David
P. S. Firecracker is a strange bird that is propagated by sticking cutting in upside down. This is how it spreads in nature and why it can be invasive in the wrong place and a joy in another, so keep this in mind when plannin a location for your little bundle of JOY.

Well, that is a new on on me, David. Rooting a plant upside down. Does this mean, then, that in Nature, it roots from the limbs that touch the ground upside down? This is very interesting !!!

He's absolutely correct, Carrie. That's the way to root the one I have also (Russelia equisetiformis). I have rooted it like you do other plants, but only about 10% rooted, and it took forever. Stick the cuttings upside down and they root right away.
Jim

Thanks for the rooting info. David.
If I repeat this upside down propagation method to our garden club they'll think I'm crazy but I'll give it a try. lol

You just never know what you'll learn on GW.

I didn't know where Canyon Lake area is but now I do.

If any of you are in Austin area, I would be happy to give you a start of the russelia. It does spread as the long stems drop to the ground and root, so it is fairly easy to get starts of it. Had not heard the bit about "upside down rooting" before.
Anne

Anne that's so sweet of you. We were just there but Jolana lives there. I may get to come back but I would insist on bringing you a plant in return.

Does it bloom very long?

Carol Ann,
I think it does. My yard is VERY shady so hard to judge. But I have some that gets more sun (a few hours a day) and it is blooming now. Some is in mostly shade and it blooms later. In sunny yards, it blooms more fully making a brilliant mound(like the picture above) and I would think lasts much of the summer. I will have to pay more attention to how long it lasts!

Thanks, I think I'll plant mine in the front yard where it gets a lot of sun.

Yes it blooms on new growth so a few judicious trimmings will keep it blooming into fall. There is one on the roadside in New Braunfels by a dentist office and it seems to be in bloom everytime I go by there from late spring on into the fall. It is one of the older plants of it that I know of. Been whatching it for around 7 or 8 years. It is also the rusellia sarmentosa like the pic iat the top of this thread.
Happy Growing David

Texann, this is several years later, do you still have the russelia? I saw a beautiful Russelia Rotundifolia growing in San Antonio just a couple of weeks ago, but no one seems to carry it here in he Houston area. I really want one!