Fuchsias are well known as container plants, and the small woody shrubs are overwintered indoors. Enthusiasts, as well as commercial growers, strike cuttings in early spring. They take root easily and come into flower soon afterwards. The mass-produced plants find their way to the containers and hanging baskets of consumers who normally allow the plants to freeze to death in autumn.
LION’S EAR
This South African plant starts flowering about three to four months after it was sown. It is better known as a container plant and may be kept in a cool and, if need be, dark place in winter to allow it to sprout again in spring after hard pruning. Firms specializing in plants propagated by seed or cuttings, market flowering plants intended for cultivation as annuals as early as June. Put the plant in a large pot on your patio and you will spend months imagining you are in the tropics. Provide leonotis with a sheltered, warm, and sunny position, and give it plenty of water and fertilizer to keep it flowering. The orange whorls of flowers develop from the bottom upwards on flower stems which may ultimately grow to 6 ft.
The genus Leonotis (Lion’s Ear or Lion’s-Tail) consists of about 30 species of plants in the family Lamiaceae. All but one species, Leonotis nepetifolia (native to both tropical Africa and southern India), are native to southern Africa.