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Zauchneria cana– Onagraceae - Epilobum canum, 'California Fuchsia,' 'Hummingbird Trumpet.'- This California native is an excellent Hummingbird plant, flowering from August to October with lush 2" red trumpets, somehow finding the energy to put on such a show when all else has gone into summer dormancy. Growing upright or trailing, in its native habitat you will often see it growing in rock cracks in cliff faces in 110º heat, yet it also performs well in ordinary garden conditions here on the foggy coast.

A good choice for drought tolerant landscaping, rock walls and retainers, or right in the middle of the mixed border, it can grow sickly if over-watered, over-fertilized, or given mucky soils. This herbaceous perennial will mostly disappear in the winter, spreading from its underground roots in the winter, showing an increased spread come spring. In the nursery they eagerly pop out through the holes in their pots.

Please note: Many sources list several subspecies differing in the fuzziness of leaf and minor floral details. I'm not sure which one this is, but it does do very well in cultivation which is why I grow it. I grew some wild seed some years back and had some trouble with them in nursery conditions.

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