Justicia floribunda

Justicia floribunda with clivias in the garden of Robin Diehm in Sydney

Throughout winter and spring, this small evergreen Brazilian shrub - sometimes known colloquially as firefly - illuminates my garden. It has long suffered an identity crisis, being known (and still sometimes sold as) Jacobinia pauciflora, Jacobinia rizzinii, Libonia floribunda as well as Justicia rizzinii (which is what I have previously referred to it as), before arriving at its present Latin name. Like many members of the Acanthus family, to which it belongs, it is a trouble-free, easy-care plant for warm temperate and semitropical climates, and at just 1 m tall, it can find a place in the smallest of gardens.

Justicia floribunda; syn. Justicia rizzinii

Justicia floribunda; syn. Justicia rizzinii

From June until October, it is smothered in dainty, pendulous, tubular-bell shaped flowers, each multi-toned in colours of scarlet, orange and yellow. The effect is like that of a shower of embers suspended in mid-air, sparkling in a sunny spot or lighting up a more shady position.

It may layer very gently to form a clump but never enough to be a nuisance. It may also self-seed a little. It should be trimmed back when it finishes flowering to promote a compact shape. It can grow in either part-shade or sun, and survives very ordinary soil and infrequent watering.

The airy effect of its blooms provides a pretty contrast to more robust flowers that appear in winter and/or early spring, such as orange or yellow Clivia, scarlet poinsettia, Camellia japonica and nasturtiums. Shrubby Abutilon with their Chinese lantern blooms in a similar range of hot colours are also particularly floriferous when firefly is at its best. Another good companion plant is the bromeliad Aechmea caudata, which has plump yellow and red spires in late winter. Gold or lime coloured leaves also provide a lively foil to its flowers. Blue and purple flowers are stunning partners to the harlequin blooms of firefly, and those which coincide with its flowering period include bluebells, Babiana, cinerarias, ajuga, felicia and blue sage bush (Eranthemum pulchellum).