Crossandra, Firecracker Flower, Firecracker Plant 'Orange Marmalade'

I have a jungle-themed hummingbird shade garden and this is a great orange compliment to my red tubular plants. It is constantly in bloom...Read More and I will overwinter it indoors. It is from Southeast Asia and is not adapted for hummingbirds specifically but mine have used it. While I pair it with reds, it's such a soft sherberty orange it lends itself to pinks and whites too.

Dominican Republic, zone 11-12
When buying my first few Crossandra plants I researched the internet on conditions of growth. Most...Read Morely sites said, shade, partial shade, indoor plants.
That is a load of rubbish!
Given those conditions the plants were not at all happy and certainly did NOT flower.
Then one day I saw a Crossandra plant in full sun in someone's garden. It was flowering profusely. So o.k. I would try the same thing. It worked! and in the DR sun, which being in the Caribbean is extremely hot. True they soak up the water like crazy but that's ok considering the flowering taking place, non stop.
They do seem subjected to mealy bug so that needs attention. Otherwise they are one of the greatest delights ive ever come across.
Since buying those first few plants ive grown loads from seeds ive bought. Have yet to learn how to collect my own. I also want other varieties now. Those so far have been the Firecracker type, vivid orange. Have some yellow variety seed on its way but there is a red one as well and would like to also have that.
The seed I geminate on Perlite, stood in water. A plastic container with slits in the bottom.
The plants are phenominal.

The Orange Marmalade is my new "favorite" flower this year, two of them sit on my front porch in white containers and they are beautiful,...Read More with weeks of temperatures near or above 100 degrees, with daily watering they have bloomed and stayed green and fresh looking beyond anything I could have imagined, where all of my other flowers have struggled, I will be adding more to my gardens next year.

I have 2 of thesebeautiful plants on my porch and they have bloomed continuously since I bought them. I did have problems with aphids on...Read More one of them and used an organic spray twice to get rid of them and it recovered quickly. I do have to water frequently to keep them moist enough in my area. We have had 110 degree temps the past week and they have been unfazed as long as I keep them moist.