I just bought one at HD. Was thrilled to find an actual FL native in the store. After watching this video went out and checked my new plant, sure enough it is a native! Has the totally red flowers, stems and the fuzz. Thank you for the video, just subscribed. Will consult your channel before buying anything else.
That is so exciting! Usually they aren’t, but is my hope that HD and others will start having natives so that it is easy for Floridians to have these great plants! I’m so happy the video helped out and you got yourself this beauty! Thank you for subscribing too! 😄
Thank you so much! I have both varieties at a rental property that I manage and I wanted to propagate some into my own yard… so cool to see both side-by-side in real life and at the same time really helped out a lot
What an excellent video!!! I purchased my first fire bush and noticed the orange flower color & that they stayed all green throughout the year. I knew this was a different fire bush & made an effort to find the one that turned red in the cool months. I finally found one but honestly didn’t have any idea that were native & nonnative varieties. I love both of them though. Thank you for the information.
This video makes it easy to recognize a native Florida Firebush. I really enjoyed and great information. I posted this video on facebook because many people are into native Florida plants for their gardens. Thank you for being so knowledgeable.
Just found your channel. Had to go and check my fire bush and it's a non native. It is always full of butterfly and all kinds of bees. I will have to keep an eye out for the native Thank you from 9b in FL🙂
I've watched the video several times and it seems the only way I could be sure if my Firebush was native is by opening up the berry and matching the seeds to one berry that you showed on another video. I had concluded after watching the video the first time that all my plants were native. Once I realized different plants had different seeds, I watched another one of your videos and realized I have two different species. Very tough to figure. I'm very grateful for the clarification because I had just planted about 100 seeds and 30 cuttings about a week ago. Most of the cuttings looked dead so I decided to take cuttings from another bush and replant. That's when I realized that I had been duped on two plants. I sure hope I got it right now as I only want to propagate native. Thanks so much. So hard to find pictures of the native shrub seeds and how to harvest the seeds. Now I need to figure out how to remove unwanted plant seeds that sowed so I can reuse that space and not contaminate new plantings.
Thank you for making it so much easier to identify the native variety. You have the heart of a teacher. I watched this video and went to one of the small local nurseries near me. I’m hoping I bought the native variety, it has solid red flowers and red veins on the leaves, but not very fuzzy. Fingers crossed 🤞. Thank you again.
From watching this video I have some good news. From all your descriptors the cultivar Lime Sizzler may be from native stock even though it’s from Texas. It has fuzz on the leaves and red growing tips/red flowers.
I bought a dwarf firebush and was excited it would not get big, but after watching this, I realized that it will most likely not be native. Is there an issue with having a dwarf verity (besides, it might not be as "good")? I am thinking more along the lines of tropical milkweed being a big issue since it does not die back thus confusing the monarch butterfly. It is more of a "just not as good" or is the dwarf variety actually an issue?
Your #1 fan Ev here 😅 I was pretty excited to have (thanks to watching your entire firebush series) stopped at a random nursery and identify/purchased a native!! My husband actually was pretty proud of me IDing one and knowing what to look for lol, since I’m still new to all of this. I came home and rewatched this episode just to make sure. Interestingly enough my leaves looked exactly like the non native you showed, crinkly and not broad at all, but the telltale fuzz, leaf changing color and red veins underneath indicators were all there. Maybe leaves not fully developed bcz still young at about 2ft? Anyhow, thank you for being as thorough in your vids. My first Florida native plant purchase 👍🏼 Let the pollinators come!
Hi #1 fan! LOL. I'm so happy for you! I made these videos for people like you, so it makes me so happy to hear that it helped. On the young plants... yes the leaves will be smaller, so don't hang your hat too strongly on the size at this point. :) The crinkle can be due to some stress... but get your new native plant buddy in some soil and sun and it will right itself out. Best wishes on your Gardening adventure! :)
I have both varieties both are beautiful but the native does get more bee's and butterflies i love your videos i raise monarchs and swallowtails and sulphur butterflies i live in ft Lauderdale.
I would bet you it's from Africa because it would blow the seeds in storm weather all the way to Florida when there's a hurricane. I had a lily blow in and grow in my yard it's the only climbing yellow Lily yellow red it's like a fire Lily It's amazing And it grows beautifully here. It came in after Hurricane Ian
Thank you! I am happy to find that I have the native version in my yard, & I am enjoying the Wild Floridian videos. May I ask what your background is? Do you have a degree in horticulture?
Of course you can ask my background? 😄 I do not have a degree in horticulture but I am honored that you would wonder if I did. My degree is in mechanical engineering but I don’t do any engineering 😅
Have you seen the new variegated variety “Lime Sizzler” being sold in stores. It looks a lot like native firebush with wide leaves and red flowers. Was wondering if it was a form native to the southeast or if it was from a different region all together.
Nice presentation , term for the veins in leaf is , vein + type. HA HA. Looking for ''USES'' of berries you did not talk much about, says here google firebush - is edible and a native Indian medicine. Going to try leaves and berries in tea, eat. free food as in surviving. Important - where a plant is from. Folklore has it , when someone gets ill, under the weather searching for a plant nearby will help if you know how to ''use'' it. Tks.
@@WildFloridian Everything real or imagined can be used, only question remains is what has not been done. dried herb for a completely changed , different phyto-medicine , food spice . Or fresh off the vine. tks.
That is a bummer! I know the disappointment. But as more of us know, hopefully the native ones become more widely available so others won't accidentally buy non-native firebush. That is my hope 😄
Great question M'Nik! No, they are not invasive. So if you end up buying the exotic firebush, no major worries. There is some research that suggests there is a concern about hybridizing. I still haven't gotten around to removing my exotic firebush (someday). Hope that helps!
Her assertion that the non-native firebush is a hybrid between the Florida native and an African species is wildly incorrect. First of all, there are no Hamelia species native to Africa, and secondly, the plant she is speaking of is not a hybrid. She is correct that the Florida native is Hamelia patens var patens and that the commonly-cultivated non-native firebush in Florida is Hamelia patens var. glabra, but it is native to southern Mexico south through Central America and into northern South America plus Trinidad and Tobago. The confusion lies in the absurd common name "African firebush" for Hamelia patens var. glabra in the Florida nursery trade, and this name came about because the original material introduced into Florida happened to come from a botanical garden in Pretoria, South Africa. Another ridiculous common name is "dwarf firebush," and it is anything but dwarf. You may also find another species in the Florida nursery trade called Hamelia cuprea, a small tree with red-striped yellow flowers to about 3/4" wide. It, too, has a misleading name, "Bahama firebush," even though it is not from the Bahamas. It is native to the Greater Antilles, so perhaps Antillean firebush would be a better name. Also, Hamelia patens var. patens and var. glabra hybridize to form intermediate forms, and both will also hybridize with Hamelia cuprea, to add even more confusion.
Hi Roger! I’m her 😄 Thank you so much for watching my video! Wow! I would have have never guessed that someone who wrote a book that I use would watch one of my videos 😳 Thank you for bringing up the origin of variety Glabra. When I read your article, I misinterpreted what you wrote. So I appreciate you clarifying. Thank you for the work you do and best wishes... Jacqueline
Hey Roger have you seen the new variety being sold “Lime Sizzler” I read online it came from Texas but no confirmation. It has a lot of similarities to native firebush with variegated leaves. Do you know if it is the same breed we have in Florida?
@@WildFloridian I hope I didn't come across too critical!! I had just watched a video produced by UF/IFAS on Florida Friendly plants and they featured two Category I invasive species and one Category II invasive species, plus their so-called "fact" sheets are full of misinformation, sad to say. Keep up the good work. If you Google my name you can find my website, and in it you will find my email address if you ever have any questions I can help answer.
@@mwnemo I've seen 'Lime Sizzler' in Home Depot Garden Centers but don't know where it originated. These cultivars are nothing more than anomalies that they propagate vegetatively. Hamelia patens isn't native to Texas but that cultivar could have come from cultivated material in a Texas nursery.
Roger Hammer thanks Roger. It had the look of native firebush with variegated leaves. I could find no information online easily, only that it was first patented in Texas. The one I bought died after transplanting it but my neighbors loved it. No one I have asked knows exactly what variegated variety it is so far.
🔥🌿 What native nursery do you use to find native plants? 🌿🔥 Hope this helps you identify Florida Native Firebush! 😄
Wilcox
Me too!
Nice presentation! I didn't know about the commercial variety.
Just went out and checked my firebushes (in the rain) and guess what...they're native! Yay!!!
Hooray!
I literally want to go out with my flashlight to go check my firebush! I think I'll wait till the morning! Lol!
I love it when you talk about… Rubbing the leaf smooth...😂🤣😂 something I could see myself doing also.
😂 LOL
I just bought one at HD. Was thrilled to find an actual FL native in the store. After watching this video went out and checked my new plant, sure enough it is a native! Has the totally red flowers, stems and the fuzz. Thank you for the video, just subscribed. Will consult your channel before buying anything else.
That is so exciting! Usually they aren’t, but is my hope that HD and others will start having natives so that it is easy for Floridians to have these great plants! I’m so happy the video helped out and you got yourself this beauty! Thank you for subscribing too! 😄
Ours are non-native! And frankly, they are leggy and not very full. Sad.
What great news if it is true. My dream come true Florida Natives at the big box stores. Thanks for sharing.
Phew....glad to know all my firebush is native!
Thank you so much! I have both varieties at a rental property that I manage and I wanted to propagate some into my own yard… so cool to see both side-by-side in real life and at the same time really helped out a lot
Just found your channel and love it! One of the best native plant channels I have seen on UA-cam.
You are so sweet! Thank you so much! 🥰
What an excellent video!!! I purchased my first fire bush and noticed the orange flower color & that they stayed all green throughout the year. I knew this was a different fire bush & made an effort to find the one that turned red in the cool months. I finally found one but honestly didn’t have any idea that were native & nonnative varieties. I love both of them though. Thank you for the information.
Thank you so much! And I'm so happy to have helped!
This video makes it easy to recognize a native Florida Firebush. I really enjoyed and great information. I posted this video on facebook because many people are into native Florida plants for their gardens. Thank you for being so knowledgeable.
I’m so glad you can recognize our Florida Native Firebush! Thank you for watching and sharing with others! It means a lot to me 🥰
Thank you Jacqueline for this great video. I will keep it in mind when and if I ever get to plant firebush.
Glad it was helpful!
I have both in my yard as well, pretty much right next to each other, and there always seems to be more life on the native plant
Just found your channel. Had to go and check my fire bush and it's a non native. It is always full of butterfly and all kinds of bees. I will have to keep an eye out for the native
Thank you from 9b in FL🙂
I've watched the video several times and it seems the only way I could be sure if my Firebush was native is by opening up the berry and matching the seeds to one berry that you showed on another video. I had concluded after watching the video the first time that all my plants were native. Once I realized different plants had different seeds, I watched another one of your videos and realized I have two different species. Very tough to figure.
I'm very grateful for the clarification because I had just planted about 100 seeds and 30 cuttings about a week ago. Most of the cuttings looked dead so I decided to take cuttings from another bush and replant. That's when I realized that I had been duped on two plants. I sure hope I got it right now as I only want to propagate native. Thanks so much. So hard to find pictures of the native shrub seeds and how to harvest the seeds. Now I need to figure out how to remove unwanted plant seeds that sowed so I can reuse that space and not contaminate new plantings.
Thank you for making it so much easier to identify the native variety. You have the heart of a teacher. I watched this video and went to one of the small local nurseries near me. I’m hoping I bought the native variety, it has solid red flowers and red veins on the leaves, but not very fuzzy. Fingers crossed 🤞. Thank you again.
Glad it was helpful! 😄 It sounds like you got the native type! I hope it brings a lot of joy and life to your garden.
How can I propagate fire bush please
Thanks for the information, love your videos.
From watching this video I have some good news. From all your descriptors the cultivar Lime Sizzler may be from native stock even though it’s from Texas. It has fuzz on the leaves and red growing tips/red flowers.
That was my question. Thank you!
Do you notice any life on it like certain pollinators?
I bought a dwarf firebush and was excited it would not get big, but after watching this, I realized that it will most likely not be native. Is there an issue with having a dwarf verity (besides, it might not be as "good")? I am thinking more along the lines of tropical milkweed being a big issue since it does not die back thus confusing the monarch butterfly. It is more of a "just not as good" or is the dwarf variety actually an issue?
Your #1 fan Ev here 😅 I was pretty excited to have (thanks to watching your entire firebush series) stopped at a random nursery and identify/purchased a native!! My husband actually was pretty proud of me IDing one and knowing what to look for lol, since I’m still new to all of this. I came home and rewatched this episode just to make sure. Interestingly enough my leaves looked exactly like the non native you showed, crinkly and not broad at all, but the telltale fuzz, leaf changing color and red veins underneath indicators were all there. Maybe leaves not fully developed bcz still young at about 2ft? Anyhow, thank you for being as thorough in your vids. My first Florida native plant purchase 👍🏼 Let the pollinators come!
Hi #1 fan! LOL. I'm so happy for you! I made these videos for people like you, so it makes me so happy to hear that it helped.
On the young plants... yes the leaves will be smaller, so don't hang your hat too strongly on the size at this point. :) The crinkle can be due to some stress... but get your new native plant buddy in some soil and sun and it will right itself out.
Best wishes on your Gardening adventure! :)
I have both varieties both are beautiful but the native does get more bee's and butterflies i love your videos i raise monarchs and swallowtails and sulphur butterflies i live in ft Lauderdale.
My pollinators enjoy both equally.
That’s great! 😄
Great video! Is that a dwarf berry bush in the background?
Hi Gigi! Thank you and yes that is a everbearing mulberry behind me. Gets about 20 to 30 feet tall
Interesting!
I would bet you it's from Africa because it would blow the seeds in storm weather all the way to Florida when there's a hurricane. I had a lily blow in and grow in my yard it's the only climbing yellow Lily yellow red it's like a fire Lily It's amazing And it grows beautifully here. It came in after Hurricane Ian
Thank you! I am happy to find that I have the native version in my yard, & I am enjoying the Wild Floridian videos. May I ask what your background is? Do you have a degree in horticulture?
Of course you can ask my background? 😄 I do not have a degree in horticulture but I am honored that you would wonder if I did. My degree is in mechanical engineering but I don’t do any engineering 😅
I can not find native plants. I went to get milkweed, only tropical. Fire bush, only dwarf. It was one listed on the native plants nursery.
Check out the Florida Native Nursery Association’s website to find one near you. They show by county
www.floridanativenurseries.org/
Have you seen the new variegated variety “Lime Sizzler” being sold in stores. It looks a lot like native firebush with wide leaves and red flowers. Was wondering if it was a form native to the southeast or if it was from a different region all together.
It was found at a nursery in Texas and was patented. It is a more modern variety.
@@WildFloridian please how can I propagate stem cuttings from firebush thank you
Would you post a picture of the seeds of the Florida native Firebush please?
Does anyone out there know how to propagate stem cuttings from firebush
I can’t believe that stores and nurseries opt to sell non-native rather than native Firebush.
One day! We’ll get natives in most stores 😉
Will not native still attractive butterflies and bees?
Yep! They attract butterflies, birds and bees too.
Nice presentation , term for the veins in leaf is , vein + type. HA HA. Looking for ''USES'' of berries you did not talk much about, says here google firebush - is edible and a native Indian medicine. Going to try leaves and berries in tea, eat. free food as in surviving. Important - where a plant is from. Folklore has it , when someone gets ill, under the weather searching for a plant nearby will help if you know how to ''use'' it. Tks.
I recalling reading that there is a soda made from the berries in central america.
@@WildFloridian Everything real or imagined can be used, only question remains is what has not been done. dried herb for a completely changed , different phyto-medicine , food spice . Or fresh off the vine. tks.
I have 6 firebush shrubs. None are native. I purchased them at Lowes.
That is a big bummer. I’ve done the same many times... buy native plant 😃 ... then to find it isn’t native... ☹️...
So I realized from watching this video one of the natives I bought from a native nursery is actually a non native. Or maybe a hybrid
I am so sad to find out that the plants in my yard are not native! Will be on the lookout fir native ones so I can replace.☹️
That is a bummer! I know the disappointment. But as more of us know, hopefully the native ones become more widely available so others won't accidentally buy non-native firebush. That is my hope 😄
Which Firebush would more likely attract Butterflies?
Are they invasive plants?
Great question M'Nik! No, they are not invasive. So if you end up buying the exotic firebush, no major worries. There is some research that suggests there is a concern about hybridizing. I still haven't gotten around to removing my exotic firebush (someday). Hope that helps!
The one i have has most of the qualities of the native except that the flowers are solidly orange. Very strange
Just checked mine. Non native. Such a let down. Let the hunt begin for the native
Sadly, the landscapers planted NON-native variety by our townhomes...!!!
I feel your pain!
Please show pictures immediately We are so busy! Why keep it secret???
Her assertion that the non-native firebush is a hybrid between the Florida native and an African species is wildly incorrect. First of all, there are no Hamelia species native to Africa, and secondly, the plant she is speaking of is not a hybrid. She is correct that the Florida native is Hamelia patens var patens and that the commonly-cultivated non-native firebush in Florida is Hamelia patens var. glabra, but it is native to southern Mexico south through Central America and into northern South America plus Trinidad and Tobago. The confusion lies in the absurd common name "African firebush" for Hamelia patens var. glabra in the Florida nursery trade, and this name came about because the original material introduced into Florida happened to come from a botanical garden in Pretoria, South Africa. Another ridiculous common name is "dwarf firebush," and it is anything but dwarf. You may also find another species in the Florida nursery trade called Hamelia cuprea, a small tree with red-striped yellow flowers to about 3/4" wide. It, too, has a misleading name, "Bahama firebush," even though it is not from the Bahamas. It is native to the Greater Antilles, so perhaps Antillean firebush would be a better name. Also, Hamelia patens var. patens and var. glabra hybridize to form intermediate forms, and both will also hybridize with Hamelia cuprea, to add even more confusion.
Hi Roger! I’m her 😄 Thank you so much for watching my video! Wow! I would have have never guessed that someone who wrote a book that I use would watch one of my videos 😳 Thank you for bringing up the origin of variety Glabra. When I read your article, I misinterpreted what you wrote. So I appreciate you clarifying. Thank you for the work you do and best wishes... Jacqueline
Hey Roger have you seen the new variety being sold “Lime Sizzler” I read online it came from Texas but no confirmation. It has a lot of similarities to native firebush with variegated leaves. Do you know if it is the same breed we have in Florida?
@@WildFloridian I hope I didn't come across too critical!! I had just watched a video produced by UF/IFAS on Florida Friendly plants and they featured two Category I invasive species and one Category II invasive species, plus their so-called "fact" sheets are full of misinformation, sad to say. Keep up the good work. If you Google my name you can find my website, and in it you will find my email address if you ever have any questions I can help answer.
@@mwnemo I've seen 'Lime Sizzler' in Home Depot Garden Centers but don't know where it originated. These cultivars are nothing more than anomalies that they propagate vegetatively. Hamelia patens isn't native to Texas but that cultivar could have come from cultivated material in a Texas nursery.
Roger Hammer thanks Roger. It had the look of native firebush with variegated leaves. I could find no information online easily, only that it was first patented in Texas. The one I bought died after transplanting it but my neighbors loved it. No one I have asked knows exactly what variegated variety it is so far.