Cuphea Species, Candy Corn Plant, Cigar Plant

I live next door to my mom, near the coast of Central California, and have had great luck with Cigar Plants, once we found the best locat...Read Moreions for them. We did have to do some moving around, but found they like the east side of our property, as well as, our southern exposure middle garden. We bought 3 or 4 from a local nursery, but now have around 8, thanks to my mom's penchant for sticking any broken branches into a nearby pot to reroot. We never did anything special, just watered them until they got about 18" tall, and planted them. They do grow quickly and have to be pruned, but we go for a more "naturalized" look in our garden, so it's not a big deal. The hummingbirds love them and my cats enjoy chirping at them when they're feeding near the windows! We don't get any butterflies on them, mainly because of our daily winds, but we like hummers better anyways!

I have had this plant in a bed in front of the house for several years. It seems fairly indestructible and although I love it, I had no ...Read Moreidea that it would grow as tall as it does and I am constantly pruning it back to keep it below the hibiscus behind it. I originally got this at a nursery that went out of business after Hurricane Charley and would love to be able to find more of it so I could plant it in different locations.

I had this plant at previous house It was wonderful. It was always in bloom, loads of buterflies, skippers and best of all hummers throu...Read Moreghout the day. It was in dappled sun at best under oak trees, and watered once a week. Once a year needed spraying because of the tiny blue-green beetles. Now at the new house I hoped for the same beauty. They now share a bed with a Chaste plant and get sun all day, The tips are burning, same beetles but more often, leaves curled, old wood looks caloused with knots all over splitting open. They do not look healthy at all. No books I have found or garden centers can explain it.

My cuphea is growing in a pot. It can dry out very quickly. After missing a couple of days or water, it was almost dead. I pruned it ...Read Moreseverly and now make sure the pot is always in a saucer of water. Apparently, root rot is not a problem for this plant. It has come back beautifully.