What it is
Flame Acanthus (Anisacanthus quadrifidus wrightii) is in the Acanthaceae family. A tough, late-summer hummingbird magnet that blooms in the worst of the heat with almost no water.
How to grow it
It wants full sun, water it very low, and give it lean, well-drained soil. Target a soil pH around 6.5–8.0. Space plants about 3 ft apart. Expect roughly Established. Hardy native shrub.
How it's used
Flame Acanthus is used: ornamental; pollinator.
🔎 How to identify it
- Narrow light-green leaves
- Tubular orange-red flowers
- Airy open shrub
Not for eating
How to grow & propagate flame acanthus
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate flame acanthus
Flame Acanthus is grown from seed. Start it in the season it favors, keep the seedbed evenly moist until it's up, and thin to give each plant room to size up.
Growing flame acanthus in Texas
Give it full sun and lean, well-drained soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
Time your planting to our long warm season and watch the frost dates at both ends; the live weather tool on this site is built for exactly that.
Once it's rooted in, this is a low-water plant — overwatering does more harm than drought here. Water deeply to establish, then back off and let it prove how tough it is.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly established before you're harvesting.
Making more for free
If you want more, let your healthiest plants mature fully and collect the seed once it's dry on the plant — then store it somewhere cool, dark, and dry until next season.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.