Cape Honeysuckle (Tecoma Capensis) is a sun-loving shrub that is very easy to grow. The flowers are tubular shaped and brightly coloured.
What I have here is cultivar 'salmon'. It was already flowering when I first bought it at our local nursery for a meagre RM 5.00. Very cheap! What a small price to pay for the joy that it has given me.
What I love about this plant is that once it starts blooming, it never seems to stop. I guess the flowers will be here all year round.
These bright orange flowers come in clusters of 15-20 flowers per stalk
Scientific name: Tecoma capensis 'Salmonea'
Synonym: Tecomaria capensis 'Salmon'
Common name: Cape Honeysuckle
Family: Bignoniaceae
Origin: Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland
Category: Shrubs
Growing requirements:
Regularly watering and well drained to sandy soil. Pruning is recommended to reshape the plant and encourage more growth and flowers. This plant can take hard pruning. Plant it in a container if you have limited land for gardening because its roots may be quite invasive.
Does it attract a lot of bees and butterflies, Belle?..
ReplyDeleteNice orange blooms.
~ bangchik
Beautiful! Flowers in clusters bring joy longer... when one bloom withers, the other tend to stay longer... so they do stay for a while ;-)
ReplyDeleteBangchik, Stephanie. Some people plant this flower to attract the birds and butterflies. Yeah I manage to attract some beautiful butterflis. As for the birds, what beautiful birds do we have? Luckily the gagak didn't come! LOL.
ReplyDeleteLovely honeysuckle and i bet it smells divine.
ReplyDeleteJoanne, nice to see you here. Actually I hardly notice any smell from my honeysuckle flowers. Maybe the bright colour attracted the bees and butterflies. However, if I crush the leaves, I get a garlic or gum smell.
ReplyDeleteWe do have many beautiful birds in our urban gardens! In the mornings and cooler afternoons, look out for the tiny sunbirds (they come to my parents' mostly-ornamental garden to drink nectar from the shampoo ginger flowers!). There are also cute doves (merbuk) and noisy but adorable magpie robins (murai). I'm trying to find some new things to grow that will attract more birds!
ReplyDeleteChia, haha, I guess you must be referring to my comments made in 2009! How ignorant I was then. I have since planted many native plants in my garden and now I know what types of plants will attract birds to our Malaysian gardens. My favourite is the cute olive backed sunbirds who loved our Hibiscus, ginger plants (Zingeberaceae family), Ixora, sunflower, Zig Zag plant and even the auspicious Little Bird Plant. Also trees that bears fruits eg longan, papaya, mango, etc. will attract birds. :)
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