Viewing comments posted by Sadie

Hamelia patens is a great plant for a habitat garden because it attracts lots of butterflies and hummingbirds. Where I live in zone 8b this plant freezes back to the ground in an average winter, but faithfully returns in the spring. After a particulary harsh winter, it didn't reappear until Memorial Day! Both of our Hamelia patens survived last year's terrible drought with a little supplemental water. They were well established (3 years) before the drought. Some of my other summer bloomers surrendered to the lack of rain, but this tough plant hung in there.