Does anyone know the background of Russelia 'St Elmo's Fire'? When mine arrived from Kevin about a month ago, it was struggling to burst free of its confinement in a gallon-sized pot, so now, it is happily growing out of a 3-gallon pot. It is an interesting plant. The arching stems have many tiny leaves and flowering is nice. Each blossom is a brighter red than Russelia equisetiformis. However, the flowers are about 1/3 smaller and somewhat more open.

Each flower contains a tiny drop of nectar. There are presently a lot of buds, but only a few open flowers, so I was not able to gather sufficient nectar to test. So far, I have not seen any hummer usage, but the large Russelia equisetiformis out front is in good flower and it has not received any hummer attention either.

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Nancy L Newfield
Casa Colibrí
Metairie, Louisiana USA
USDA Zone 9
http://www.casacolibri.net/

Nan
Your St. Elmo's Fire sounds a lot like myn Desert Fire Russelia. n It gets a lot more leaves along the stems than the species plants. The blooms are a bit more open which makes them appear bigger than the species and if my memory is correct the blooms are a bit more on the red side. My plant does get a lot of hummer use (when there are hummers around). None of my 3 Russelias are blooming at this time but it shouldn't be long once I am able to move them outside.

Penny
NY
USDA hardiness zone 6a
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Penny,

My suspicion is that this plant is a hybrid between Russelia equisetiformis and Russelia coccinea, but I would like some confirmation or denial. There can be no doubt that hummers will use it, but right now, I have so much in flower and there have not been a lot of hummers around, so every one has lots of good choices. When there are more flowers, I will test again.

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Nancy L Newfield
Casa Colibrí
Metairie, Louisiana USA
USDA Zone 9
http://www.casacolibri.net/

Nancy; I went searching a little bit and the below links says it is a cross between r. equis and r. mexicana .

http://blog.chron.com/lazygardener/2012/02/whats-blooming-now-in-the-lazy-gardeners-garden/

Joshua says:

February 10, 2012 at 7:14 pm


Here is one of my new favorites,,Cross of Russelia equesitaformis and R. mexicana
name,,,St. Elmos Fire,,This rugged little guy has bloomed almost non-stop ALL summer and so far,,ALL this winter as well,after freezing back hard in 2010. NO supplemental water needed ! I have an over-wintering Rufus hummingbird just HAUNTING it daily ! If i can figure out how to post a photo i will,,
KEEP IT UP BRENDA !
THANKS ,
Joshua
OH, this is Joshua, at my garden center Joshuas Native Plants,,in the Heights,, HEY BRENDA,,Id really like to post a picture of it, can i do this on here?





Paula
nw PA/zone 5
heat zone 4


Click for weather forecast

Paula,

Interesting. I did not find Russelia mexicana in the Missouri Botanical Garden data base, not even as a synonym. And some of the images I've found of Russelia 'St Elmo's Fire' don't look much like the plant I have either. Several hummers are around this morning and these birds seem to enjoy flowers as much as feeders. There is plenty enough of both though Russelia 'St Elmo's Fire' has not had any takers while I've been watching.

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Nancy L Newfield
Casa Colibrí
Metairie, Louisiana USA
USDA Zone 9
http://www.casacolibri.net/