Ornamental · Lythraceae
Cuphea
Cuphea ignea
Give it full sun and a few pinches, and cuphea just keeps blooming from spring all the way to frost.
Full sun
Every 3–7 days
USDA 9–12
2–3 ft · 0.5–0.9 m
Overview
Cuphea is a heat-lover that flowers from late spring right up to frost, and it really pulls its weight in the garden. The cigar flower type, Cuphea ignea, gets its name from those inch-long tubular blooms that are reddish-orange with a white tip and a dark ring, looking exactly like a tiny lit cigar. It's part of the Lythraceae family and grows as a tender perennial, hardy in zones 9 to 12 and grown as a warm-season annual anywhere colder.
So what makes it worth a spot in the bed? Mostly the bloom time. The flowers come almost nonstop through the warm season, and since the plant is self-cleaning, it drops its own spent blooms and you never have to deadhead. Hummingbirds work the tubular flowers all summer long too, which is reason enough to plant one by a patio or path where you'll catch them.
It stays nice and compact, somewhere around 1.5 to 3 feet (46 to 91 cm) tall and about as wide, so it slots into a border, a mixed pot, or the front of a bed without any fuss. All it really asks for is sun, steady moisture, and the occasional pinch to stay full. Forget the pinching and it goes leggy and open, with flowers stranded at the tips and bare stems lower down.
Care
The short version: full sun, soil that stays evenly moist but drains well, a balanced feed through the season, and a few pinches now and then to keep it bushy.
Light
Cuphea flowers best in full sun, and that's also what keeps it dense and compact. It'll handle partial sun or a bit of light shade, but a shadier spot means fewer blooms and a looser, floppier plant.
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist in ground that drains well, watering roughly every 3 to 7 days depending on the heat and how fast your bed dries out. Once it's established it gets somewhat drought tolerant, so the real thing to watch is waterlogging, which rots the roots.
Soil
Give it organically rich, well-drained loam or sand that holds some moisture but doesn't stay soggy. A pH of 5.5 to 7.5 works, so most garden beds are fine with a little compost mixed in.
Temperature
This is a warm-season plant, happy in heat up to about 95°F (35°C) and getting damaged once things drop near freezing. It can scrape by down to roughly 36°F (2°C), but frost ends it, so treat it as an annual where winters get cold.
Humidity
Regular outdoor humidity is plenty, and there's no number to chase here. The plant is pretty easygoing as long as it gets decent airflow.
Feeding
Feed it every two weeks through the growing season with a balanced water-soluble fertilizer, or just work in a slow-release granular at planting and let it do the work. Keeping the food steady is what keeps that long bloom going.
Pruning
Pinch the stem tips back several times while it's actively growing to head off legginess and build a fuller, bushier shape. No deadheading to bother with, since cuphea is self-cleaning and drops its own old flowers.
Size & spacing
Figure on about 1.5 to 3 feet (46 to 91 cm) tall and a similar spread. Give each plant enough room to hit that mature width so air can move through and it fills out nice and even.
When to plant
Cuphea is all about warmth, and it won't take a frost, so timing matters. Start seed indoors well before the last spring frost, set the plants out once the cold's gone and the soil has warmed up, and you'll get blooms from late spring through fall until the first freeze.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: 10 to 12 weeks before the last spring frost
- Plant: After all danger of frost has passed and soil has warmed in spring
- Harvest: Blooms almost nonstop from late spring through fall until first frost
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 9–12
Temperature: down to -7°C
Troubleshooting
Cuphea is an easy plant, honestly, with hardly any real problems. The few you might run into are easy to spot, from open growth to a winter dieback. Just match what you're seeing below and deal with it early.
Sticky leaves, twisted new growth, or insects on the foliage
Sticky foliage or weird, twisted new growth usually points to mealybugs, thrips, and whiteflies, and they tend to show up on plants kept indoors or under glass. Flip a leaf over and look at the growing tips for cottony bits, little flyers, or a speckled, stippled look. A quick rinse with water knocks down a small outbreak, and if they don't quit, insecticidal soap or horticultural oil will.
Fix:
- Rinse off light infestations with water
- Treat with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil as needed
Stems blacken and die back over winter
Cuphea is a tender perennial, so a frost or hard freeze will blacken the stems and flatten the whole plant, and that's just what it does. If you're in zones 8 to 9, pile on some mulch over the crown and it'll usually pop back up from the base in spring. Colder than that? Just grow it as a warm-season annual, or root a few cuttings to keep going indoors.
Fix:
- Mulch well so the plant can resprout from the base in spring in zones 8 to 9
- Grow as a warm-season annual or overwinter cuttings indoors in colder regions
Open, floppy growth with bare lower stems
Ever notice a cuphea that's gone tall and thin, with all the flowers bunched up top and bare stems underneath? That's the leggy look, and it shows up when the plant never gets pinched, with low light making it worse. Pinch those semi-woody stems back a few times over the season and keep it in full sun, and it'll bush right back out.
Fix:
- Pinch back the tips of the semi-woody stems a few times during the growing season
- Site in full sun for denser, more compact growth
Toxicity
Got pets or little kids? Good news: cuphea is non-toxic straight across the board. No part of it is known to hurt cats, dogs, livestock, or people, so go ahead and plant it near a play area or a pet run without giving it a second thought.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Cuphea has no known toxins, so if a curious cat nibbles a leaf or flower, there's really nothing to worry about.
Dogs None
A dog can chew on it or push past it just fine, since it isn't one of the poisonous plants.
Horses Safe
Horses grazing close by are fine, because no part of the plant is known to do them any harm.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits can have a taste of the leaves without trouble, since cuphea doesn't carry anything that would upset them.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep can graze right beside it in a pasture or border with no poisoning to worry about.
Birds Safe
Those tubular flowers pull in hummingbirds, and garden birds aren't at any risk from the plant at all.
People Safe
Cuphea counts as non-toxic, so there's no need to fuss if kids end up handling the leaves or blooms.
Varieties
Cuphea is a big, varied group, everything from low purple-flowered shrubs to those fiery firecracker types. Here are the ones you'll bump into most.
Cuphea hyssopifolia (Mexican heather, false heather)
This one's a tidy, densely branched little sub-shrub of 1 to 2 feet covered in tiny lavender-purple trumpets, and you'll find pink and white versions too.
Cuphea ignea (cigar flower)
Its inch-long tubular flowers glow reddish-orange with a white tip and a dark ring, looking just like a lit cigar, and hummingbirds can't get enough of them.
Vermillionaire (Cuphea hybrid 'Cupver')
If you want a tough firecracker type, this hybrid pumps out loads of orange tubular flowers and barely notices real heat.
How to propagate
Making more cuphea is easy, whether you sow seed in late winter or root a few tip cuttings to carry a favorite through the cold.
Stem cuttingsEasy
Take tip cuttings in fall and root indoors over winter for overwintering · A few weeks to root
Want to keep a plant going over winter? Snip some tip cuttings in fall and root them indoors, and they'll usually take in a few weeks. Just go light on the water through fall and winter while they settle, because cool, damp soil is what invites rot.
SeedEasy
Start indoors 10 to 12 weeks before the last spring frost · Germinate and grow on for transplanting after frost
Starting from seed is easy enough: sow indoors 10 to 12 weeks before your last spring frost, then grow the seedlings on until the cold's gone and you can plant them out. And if that's a longer head start than you want, store-bought transplants do the job too.
Myths
Cuphea must be deadheaded to keep it blooming.
Nope, you can put the snips away. These plants are self-cleaning, so they drop their old flowers themselves and just keep blooming from spring until that first frost, no deadheading needed.
Cigar flower can only survive as a houseplant in cold climates.
Not really. It's a tender perennial that's hardy in the ground through zones 9 to 12, and if your winters are colder, you just grow it as a warm-season annual or keep a few cuttings going. No windowsill required.