First bloom of the season of Cape Honeysuckle

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It's the end of September here at The Tropical Paradise, and the Cape Honeysuckle is starting to bloom. This is such a great plant for here in the desert - it thrives in heat, has a wonderful tropical-looking deep green leaf, it attracts hummingbirds, and it flowers in the cool temperatures when your winter visitors are here.

Cape Honeysuckle can grow to be very tall, but I keep mine at about three feet. The trick to keeping the plant size under control and getting blooms is to never use a hedge trimmer. If your gardener is shaping all of your plants into the *poodle* or *Dr. Seuss pom-pom* shape, you will get very few, if any blooms. Instead, trim by hand. Cape Honeysuckle is meant to be a vining plant, so let it vine a bit. That's where the flowers will be.

Add a little fertilizer, give it some water, and enjoy the blooms through February!


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