John&Jacq~s Garden

Posted by Jacqueline on February 23rd, 2007 in Plants database

Cuphea hyssopifolia (Mexican Heather, False/Hawaiian Heather)

We love these Mexican False Heather! It’s dirt cheap and so easy to grow, requires the barest effort but delivers the best results with their non-stop flowering and evergreen foliage! Once you grow them, it seems to be forever as it self-sows or just give it an occasional hair-cut and it’ll bounce back with lush foliage and flowers to greet you happily! :D

Plant Profile, Culture and Propagation :

• Botanical Name: Cuphea hyssopifolia
• Common Name: Mexican Heather, False Heather, Hawaiian Heather
• Family name: Lythraceae
• Plant type: Small tropical evergreen sub-shrub (height of 10-24 ins. and 1-3 feet wide)
• Light: Prefers indirect sunlight for best foliage colour. Though can tolerate full sun, foliage can get burnt easily and plant become leggy.
• Moisture: Needs regular water for optimum growth
• Soil: Grow best in fertile soil.
• Propagation: From tip cuttings of 4-6 ins. or by dividing large clumps. I’m sure they can also be grown from seeds as I’ve noticed that these False Heather self-sow too, besides rooting where branches touch the ground!
• Features: A low growing perennial sub-shrub with highly branched and flat feathery sprays of foliage that are fernlike in appearance.
  Their small oblong leaves are fine textured, glossy and medium to dark green in colour.
  
  Cuphea hyssopifolia is a prolific bloomer that showers all year round with beautiful tiny flowers measuring 1 cm. across in various shades of white, lavender, pink and purple.
• Usage: Mexican False Heather is a perfect choice as a permanent evergreen groundcover in beds and borders. Moreover, its almost continuous flowering is most appealing to add colour to one’s garden. Being a low maintenance shrub that requires minimal pruning and hardly bothered by pests, it’ll be excellent for commercial plantings too. It can also blend well with other plants in container gardening or hanging baskets, especially the dwarf form. Most attractive to butterflies and bees!
• Care: Prune lightly if the plant becomes scraggly or trim it to the ground if it becomes leggy and it’ll grow back easily every time with lush growth and more blooms.
• For temperate zones: Hardiness – USDA Zone 9-11. Try this informative site to know more!

We grow four varieties in our tropical garden – white, medium-pink, lavender and purple flowers. My favourites are the white and lavender as their flowers contrast excellently with their dark foliage and can be visibly seen from afar!

Even the butterflies (esp. the tiny Cycad Blue and the Ypthima species) and bees enjoy visiting to feast on them! :D

Last edited: 2008-09-25

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Tags: butterfly plants, flowering plants, groundcovers, hanging plants, lavender/lilac, outdoor plants, perennials, pink, purple, subshrubs, white