I had the magenta ones and they wouldn't bloom until late February/Early March. Which for me meant most of them wouldn't bloom because they were knocked back to roots by a frost, sometimes just as they were starting to send up their spikes. I got fed up with them last winter and turned them into biochar. I picked up some red ones from a sale this past October and they are currently in bloom.

Hi Tom

I have several purples blooming now, since October. They were little cuttings three years ago and are now 6' tall and almost that wide, growing mostly in shade - a woodsy setting.

And I have a couple reds still blooming from early summer, and you're right - they didn't mind the July heat and drought, even the one in the sunnier location. One of my purples would droop and I'd dump a bucket of rain water on it to perk it back up. I wonder how long it will take for my purples to get 15'. . .

Those are the only two colors I have right now, hopefully I can get more in a trade. Do your magentas die back in the cold?

Susie

Hi Tom

I took some pictures earlier today of my firespikes.

The red ones are still in bloom

The magenta is getting really tall even more than the chaya

The pink one that you gave me is doing good

We trimmed the Queens Wreath and the purple firespike, so no blooms there.

Silvia

Your plants are always so healthy, Silvia.

Susie, where do you live? I don't think the pink, the purple or the magenta are very cold tolerant. Michael is about 40 miles due north of me and he will get a few more freezes, so these colors probably won't work for him. If you are south of us all of them would probably do well for you. I have them primarily because they are very good hummingbird plants. I don't know how well the magenta or the pink will do with cold weather, but I suspect not too well.

I have started some cuttings of the magenta and the pink, so if you live anywhere nearby we could probably trade or work something out. The cuttings are only about two weeks old, so they really haven't rooted yet.

I just noticed today that my red is spiking.

Jane

The nice thing about Firespike is that it is so easy to propagate. You can clip a stem, bury it lengthwise and each node will produce a new stem. I even had a clipped leaf that had fallen into a pot and it set roots. This is why I turned my magenta (Labeled "Blue") into biochar. If I had thrown it into my compost, I would have had magenta firespike all over.

And - probably - the magenta firespike taking over the compost pile would never freeze back! (at least, that's what would happen to me)

Tom, I am in Winter Springs, North Orlando. Last day in Feb last year we had a freeze, but my firespikes were only slightly affected. I cut back a few brown stems and tidy-ed them up. But they were in the "woods" and had a bit of protection. This year might be different since the power company cut back "12 years' growth" right overhead of my shady tropical garden, so the firespikes may get a lot more exposure in the same weather.

Silvia, have you been trimming your red one to make it into such a pretty shape? Mine are all stretchy and rangly . . . maybe not enough sun? I have purposely neglected trimming since I'm afraid I'll not get as many spikes for the hummers. Your bush is loaded! You giving it some Wheaties?

I can't speak for Silvia, but as a result of my Magentas getting knocked back to roots year after year, they kept coming back bushier and bushier.

Thank you Susie, I only trim the ones that are too much in competition with the other plants, next to the red firespike I have the red powderpuff and that one got cut, at the same time we cut drastically the queens wreath and the purple firespike because they were growing too tall. The magenta is about a year and it has not been cut at all, the pink one is the new one that Tom gave me. I think from all the firespikes the red one is the one that does best, nice color and long blooming period...

Silvia

Happy New Year!

Tom, all my firespikes are blooming, including the pink one that you gave me. It is a crazy weather out there.:)

The purple, the red flowers are the Brazilian cloak

The pink one

The magenta and the red one are still blooming

Silvia

Same here, Silvia. The red has been blooming since the end of June. It is just about finished, but it still has some blooms. It has never bloomed so long. The Magenta started blooming in early November and is now is full bloom. The pink started a few weeks later, but now it is blooming well. The new surprises were the Purple Firespikes. They started blooming about a week or two ago. They aren't in full bloom yet, but it looks like if we don't get a freeze they will going full blast in a few weeks.

I also have a large white powder puff that is in full bloom. It is about ten feet high and wide. I tried to dig it out a few years ago, but it survived. The reason I tried to remove it was that it tended to want to bloom in late January and a lite freeze would kill off all the blooms.

With this hot weather things are very different.

One major negative for me is that I have no hummingbirds at all. I have seen only one hummer for one day this whole month and none at all in November. I have gone many years with hummingbirds in November and December, so this is a major disappointment. The good thing is that there are still lots of butterflies around, especially Monarchs. I still see four or five different species every day. That's new for December. Last week I saw a few Zebra Longwings and a Giant. Usually they are long gone by now. Sulfurs, skippers, frittilaries and gold rims are common visitors still.

The weather is due to change finally this weekend. We can sure use a few cool days.

Happy New Year!

Tom, hope you are having a wonderful New Year!

I saw hummingbirds around the magenta firespike, the chaya, the red powderpuff, I noticed them when I heard a noise, a lot of butterflies too.

For the new year we got solar panels for the house, we are happy!

Silvia