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Scientific: Tecoma capensis (formerly Tecomaria capensis)
Common: cape honeysuckle
Family: Bignoniaceae
Origin: South Africa

Pronounciation: Te-CO-ma ka-PEN-sis

Hardiness zones:
Sunset 12, 13, 16, 18-24, zones 14-15 with cold protection
USDA 9-11

Landscape Use: Large scale ground cover, espalier, large informal hedge. Best with forced containment such as a raised planter.

Form & Character: Brambling, sprawling, trailing, unruly, colorful.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, woody, broadleaf perennial shrub or vine, able to bramble to 50 to 100 feet, but it can be maintained as a 4- to 8-feet shrub with frequent shearing.

Foliage/Texture: Pinnately compound leaves with dentate margins, glabrous with prominent veins, gray stems; medium texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Brilliant tubular orange, vermilion, or deep red flowers, 2-inches long flowers in terminal cluster. Flowers more red in cooler weather fading to orange as the weather warms.

Seasonal Color: Brilliant orange to deep red during October to March.

Temperature: In Phoenix, cape honeysuckle is generally hardy having only minor feeze damage during the coldest winters. Avoid the reflected heat of western exposures.

Light: Full sun to partial shade, avoid reflected light of south and west exposures.

Soil: Tolerant of all but most alkaline soils.

Watering: Manipulate irrigation volume to control vigor, e.g. water less to slow plant productivity and eventual landscape size.

Pruning: Requires regular hard pruning except during Fall when flowering.

Propagation: Seed, stem cutting, shoot and root layering.

Disease and Pests: None

Additional comments: Flowers attract hummingbirds. Variety aurea (seldom seen in Phoenix) has yellow flowers and reportedly tolerates more heat.

Landscape design warning: Do not ever use cape honeysuckle in combination with Algerian ivy (Hedera canariensis) or other any other trailing ground cover for that matter as this plant will spread rapidly like "The Blob"! Cape honeysuckle when it becomes invasive like "The Blob" is easily killed by use of glyphosate in summer.