Hummingbird Trumpet in the Hills

Hummingbird trumpet has had quite a few botanical names and I’m still not sure that I got the current botanical right in this episode. I called it Epilobium canum subsp. latifolium. I noticed at a favorite web site it is referred to as the subsp. angustifolium. Yikes! So is it broad leaved or narrow leaved Petey? Stay tuned…

I do like the old genus name of Zauschneria. but that could be because I thought it was cool I could spell it.  I think that it would be a good common name for the plant along with hummingbird trumpet.

This native plant is a late summer and fall bloomer so it’s easy to overlook if you’re poking around in the wild, or for that matter, in a native plant nursery. You sure won’t be disappointed once it blooms. The fuchsia flowers are so bright and and seem electric.

An interesting aside; the plant stems are quite brittle, so during all the years I grew this in wholesale nurseries we would always ship extra plants, because some would arrive broken at their destination. Hmm, I guess only horticulturists find that sort of stuff interesting.

The photos of the Zauschneria (or hummingbird trumpet) on the slope among other native plants are mine. The close up of the flowers is Patrick Alexander’s and was also taken in the Chiricahua Mountains.