Plant Highlight: Fire Bush

The Fire Bush is a great native to showcase because it can be planted in many climates, and used as a perennial or an annual.
I think of it as a home-town plant, because its northernmost point as a native is Central Florida! Go Fire Bush! But, travel farther south, even down to Central and South America, and you'll find it. If you live in other temperate regions of North America, where there are four seasons and it's not uncommon for fluffy white stuff to fall, Fire Bush is used in annual gardens. It grows very short in those regions, but the flowers are just as spectacular, and the leaves turn red before the plant dies. It does produce a fruit, and as with other annuals, you often see them next year because the plant has reseeded itself.
We offer some in the nursery - they are still pretty small. They got zapped in a freeze a couple of days after the plugs arrived and we've been coaxing them along. While little shorties, they are happy enough to start blooming.
We do have one planted in our garden bed in front of the house. It dies back in the winter time (we are Zone 9A - I think Zones 10 and 11 keep a year-round bush) and comes back with a flourish. It is quite large - about 6-7 feet tall, and very wide - I'd say 4 feet. Everything loves the Fire Bush! One year we had seven garden spiders (the Charlotte's Web kind, that 'write' in the web). We get Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, black racer snakes, and so many different kinds of butterflies. Sulphurs, skippers, swallowtails, fritallaries... wasps and bees too. It likes full sun and is pretty drought tolerant, another nice feature of a Florida garden plant.
Other names you may hear for the Fire Bush are Scarlet Bush and Hummingbird Bush.