Bea: I've re-read your post trying to understand the size of your bed and how you're going to place all those plants in it. You indicate 6-7 feet wide. So you want several hamelia patens in this 6-7 foot wide space, then porterweed in front, unnamed plants in the middle, and then lower growers in front?

I question whether being being farther north in Jacksonville will put a big damper on the growth of the firebush. Hamelia patens spread per UF is 5-8 feet so even if you want to scrunch plants close, you need a lot of depth to accommodate the other plant layers you've mentioned.

Yes, the hamelia and porterweed will work in the afternoon sun.

June

Are you only wanting perennials? Or plants that don't die back in the Winter? Are you open to plants that may have to be re-planted such as annuals? Hummers and butterflies LOVE Zinnias and Salvias. And butterflies love Cosmos and Lantana. Lantana will die back in Winter and come back in the Spring. Also Plumbago will do the same thing and is a butterfly attractant. Also I've noticed that the plain old Vincas attract the sulphur butterflies. Golden Dewdrops (Duranta) attracts both but the regular variety gets pretty tall. I also have a Pagoda Flower and it has butterflies all over it all the time. It dies back in Winter, too.

Rita, I want this to be a large plants bed with only perennials. I would prefer most plants not to die back in winter but a few mixed in that do would be ok. Depth is not an issue as there are easily 5 or more feet front to back before my side yard fence.

Zinnias, lantana and salvias and cosmos are in my regular flower beds.

I have a duranta in a container that goes inside if we get really cold weather.

Reading the other post about roses makes me wonder if a few Florida worthy roses might be good for the middle area. I miss roses. I hada gorgeous fairy rose up north.

Even the disease resistant roses suffer in the midst of our Summer humidity. If you do get any, make sure that they are not tightly packed in with other plants, the more air flow the better. I have 2 roses in my bed and they are just now recovering from the Summer doldrums, even with the disease control I've been using especially for roses. But the rest of the year they do great, especially in the Spring with the first flush of bloom after early Spring pruning.

Cape Honeysuckle is a long lasting hummer favorite. Mine bloom from early fall through late winter and I constantly have hummers visiting all year in 9B. Easy to grow and a big bang for the buck.