Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing

3 ft 3 in

In-row spacing

3 ft 3 in

Between rows

4 ft 1 in

Square-foot density

Not suited to SFG

Growing

Type

Shrub · Perennial

Botanical family

Mixed / other

Sunlight

Full sun

Feeding

Rose & flower

Frost tolerant

Yes

Flowering

August

Through the year

• Mar–Aug Spring Growth
• Aug–Nov Flowering
• Nov–Dec Growing
• Dec–Dec Winter Dormancy
• Jan–Mar Winter Dormancy

Companions

Clivia, Begonia, Ferns, Streptocarpus

Pests & problems

• Mealybugs Mealybugs tucked into the leaf joints
• Whitefly Whitefly under the leaves
• Downy mildew Downy mildew in humid conditions

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. ★ companion plant

• Green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea
  Hunts MealybugsWhitefly

  Its bristly larvae — "aphid lions" — impale aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and mite colonies, eating hundreds a week. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from small open flowers and overwinter in hollow stems left standing.

  Plant nearby CilantroCosmosDillSunflowerYarrow
• Ladybird (lady beetle) Coccinellidae
  Hunts MealybugsWhitefly

  The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.

  Plant nearby CalendulaCilantroCosmosDillFennelYarrow
• Big-eyed bug Geocoris spp.
  Hunts Whitefly

  A stubby 3 mm bug with enormous wrap-around eyes, working the soil surface and the low foliage for aphids, mites, thrips and insect eggs. It is the main natural check on chinch bugs in a lawn and it is killed outright by insecticide.

  Plant nearby CalendulaCloverCosmosGoldenrodSweet alyssum
• Dragonflies & damselflies Odonata
  Hunts Whitefly

  Aerial hunters that take mosquitoes, midges and small flies on the wing all day, and whose larvae spend a year or more clearing the same insects from the water. A pond with planted margins and no fish is the way to have them.

  Plant nearby BulrushIrisNymphaeaPickerel Weed
• Hoverfly Syrphidae
  Hunts Mealybugs

  Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.

  Plant nearby CalendulaChamomileFennelFrench marigoldPhaceliaSweet alyssum
• Minute pirate bug Orius spp.
  Hunts Whitefly

  A pinhead-sized true bug that is the best natural check on thrips, and happily spears aphids, mites, and insect eggs too. It needs pollen when prey is scarce, so keep something flowering nearby.

  Plant nearby CosmosFennelFrench marigoldSweet alyssum
• Parasitic wasps Braconidae & Trichogramma
  Hunts Whitefly

  Tiny, stingless wasps that lay eggs in or on caterpillars, aphids, and moth eggs — the white cocoons riding a hornworm are their calling card, so leave that caterpillar be. Umbel flowers with shallow nectar keep the adults fuelled.

  Plant nearby CilantroDillFennelLovageParsleySweet alyssumYarrow
• Spiders Araneae
  Hunts Whitefly

  Webs, ambushes, and night patrols make spiders the garden’s steadiest generalist predators, taking whatever flies or crawls past. Mulch, ground cover, and undisturbed corners keep the population dense.

  Plant nearby LavenderThyme