Family: Asteraceae
Common name: Mexican flamevine, Orange glowvine, Senecio confusus, Pseudogynoxus confusus
Yet another beautiful climber to set your garden on fire, Mexican flamevines are known for their beautiful orange-red flowers. They are fast-growing climbers that can grow over 5 meters tall, on fences, trellis, arches, walls, garden structures or the surrounding vegetation.
Leaves are bright green, glossy, about 10 cms long and coarsely toothed around the edges. Stem has a greenish-purple tinge, woody at the base of the plant, but green and tender towards the trailing ends.
Beautiful reddish orange flowers bloom almost throughout the year, with red ray florets or petals; and orange disc florets at the center. These flowers make Mexican flame vines stunning center pieces for your garden, or accents for your trellis.
Mexican flamevines also produce ribbed fruits with bristles. The flowers are attractive to birds, bees, insects and ants who help in pollination, especially the beautiful Monarch butterflies. The plants can be kept bushy and in shape through pruning and regular deadheading.
They are sun-lovers and need bright sunlight for at least 6 hours for the plants to bloom well. Regular watering and fertilization also helps grow a healthy plant. It’s better to keep pets and children away from the plant, since they might cause skin irritation on contact.
Propagation is from seeds or stem cuttings, both having reasonably good success rate.
Image credits: love4gardening
