Sierra Red™ Firecracker Bush

Hamelia patens Sierra Red™

Hamelia patens Sierra Red close up Oct 2020 at SCREC. Photo: D Martinez

Summary

Sierra Red™ is a cultivar of Hamelia patens, a shrub native to subtropical and tropical parts of Florida, Mexico, Central and South America. Sierra Red has bright, glossy green foliage, with reddish coloration at the growing points and clusters of bright orange tubular flowers borne from summer to fall, occasionally followed by blue-black fruits. In Davis, this plant died to the ground during the winter, had 17% total mortality, and surviving plants only began to emerge in late June making July the first time it was big enough to collect data. While some plants did achieve acceptable size and good overall appearance, with several putting on attractive floral displays in September and October, the late emergence from dormancy really limits its use as a perennial in WUCOLS Region 2.

In Irvine, Sierra Red held much of its foliage as it overwintered from establishment to the treatment year, but almost 38% of plants did not survive the establishment year. Inscrutably this disproportionately affected the replicates in the high treatment, though all treatments received the same amount of irrigation during the establishment year. Flowering was modest from July through October. Plants at this site were bothered by thrips, aphids, and mealybugs which adversely affected both foliage ratings and overall health and appearance. This combined with some plant non-uniformity leading to overall appearance scores never averaging much more than just acceptable appearance in Irvine. In Davis, a statistically significant difference in vigor was observed between the high and low treatments (Table 11a). However, since more of the plants on the high treatment were among the first to break dormancy, this unevenness confounds meaningful analysis. The late emergence in Davis and mortality in Irvine have resulted in a less than ideal dataset. Based on the data collected, researchers recommend Sierra Red be irrigated on medium in WUCOLS region 2 and low in region 3.

Hamelia Sierra Red at SCREC Oct 2020. Photo: D Martinez

Growth and Quality Data

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Hamelia 'Sierra Red' at the end of July 2020 in Davis. Photo: K Reid

Hamelia patens Sierra Red at UC Davis on high water in September 2020.