Ornamental · Lythraceae
Cuphea
Cuphea ignea
Hand it full sun and a few quick pinches, and cuphea fires off blooms from spring to frost.
Full sun
Every 3–7 days
USDA 9–12
2–3 ft · 0.5–0.9 m
Overview
Cuphea is a heat-lover that throws color from late spring right up to frost, and it pays you back for a sunny spot. The cigar flower, Cuphea ignea, earns its name from inch-long tubular blooms in reddish-orange tipped with white and a dark ring, dead ringers for tiny lit cigars. It runs in the Lythraceae family and grows as a tender perennial, hardy in zones 9 to 12 and grown as a warm-season annual everywhere colder.
What turns it into a real garden workhorse is how hard it keeps flowering. The blooms come almost nonstop through the warm season, and since the plant is self-cleaning, it ditches its own spent flowers and frees you from deadheading. Hummingbirds dart in to work the tubular flowers all summer, which alone makes a strong case for planting one by a patio or path.
It stays compact and easy to place, running about 1.5 to 3 feet (46 to 91 cm) tall and roughly as wide, so it drops into a border, a mixed container, or the front of a bed. Feed it sun, steady moisture, and the odd pinch, and it stays full and lush. Skip the pinch and it bolts leggy and open, stranding flowers at the tips with bare stems below.
Care
The short version: full sun, soil kept evenly moist but well-drained, a balanced feed all season, and a few quick pinches to drive a bushy, dense plant.
Light
Cuphea flowers hardest in full sun, which also drives a dense, compact plant. It takes partial sun or light shade in a pinch, but a shadier spot trades away blooms and leaves it looser and floppier.
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist in well-drained ground, watering roughly every 3 to 7 days as the heat and your bed dictate. Once established it turns somewhat drought tolerant, so the real danger flips the other way: dodge waterlogging, which rots the roots.
Soil
Plant it in organically rich, well-drained loam or sand that holds moisture without going soggy. A pH of 5.5 to 7.5 covers it, so most garden beds work fine with a little compost worked in.
Temperature
This is a warm-season plant, thriving in heat up to about 95°F (35°C) and taking damage once temperatures slide near freezing. It scrapes by down to roughly 36°F (2°C), but frost ends the run, so treat it as an annual where winters bite.
Humidity
Average outdoor humidity suits cuphea just fine, with no number to sweat. It stays easygoing here as long as the air keeps moving around it.
Feeding
Feed it every two weeks through the growing season with a balanced water-soluble fertilizer, or work in a slow-release granular at planting and let it ride. Steady feeding keeps that long bloom run firing.
Pruning
Pinch the stem tips back several times during active growth to head off legginess and pack on a fuller, bushier plant. No deadheading to fuss with, since cuphea is self-cleaning and dumps its own spent flowers.
Size & spacing
Plants run about 1.5 to 3 feet (46 to 91 cm) tall and spread to a similar width. Give each one room to hit that mature spread so air rips through freely and the plant fills out even.
When to plant
Cuphea runs on warmth and won't take a frost, so time it right. Start seed indoors well ahead of the last spring frost, push plants out once the cold lifts and the soil warms, and they bloom from late spring through fall until the first freeze.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: 10 to 12 weeks before the last spring frost
- Plant: After all danger of frost has passed and soil has warmed in spring
- Harvest: Blooms almost nonstop from late spring through fall until first frost
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 9–12
Temperature: down to -7°C
Troubleshooting
Cuphea is an easy grower with hardly any trouble to chase. The few hiccups you might hit are quick to read and quicker to fix, from open growth to a winter dieback. Match what you see below and jump on it early.
Sticky leaves, twisted new growth, or insects on the foliage
Catch sticky foliage or twisted shoots early and the culprits almost always turn out to be mealybugs, thrips, and whiteflies, which crowd onto plants kept indoors or under glass. Flip the leaves and scout the growing tips for cottony tufts, tiny flyers, or that telltale stippling. Blast a light hit off with water, then bring in insecticidal soap or horticultural oil if the bugs dig in.
Fix:
- Rinse off light infestations with water
- Treat with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil as needed
Stems blacken and die back over winter
Cuphea is a tender perennial, so a frost or hard freeze blackens the stems and knocks the whole plant flat. Gardeners in zones 8 to 9 can heap mulch over the crown and watch it charge back from the base in spring. Anywhere colder, run it as a warm-season annual or root a few cuttings and keep them growing indoors to plant out next year.
Fix:
- Mulch well so the plant can resprout from the base in spring in zones 8 to 9
- Grow as a warm-season annual or overwinter cuttings indoors in colder regions
Open, floppy growth with bare lower stems
Skip the pinching and a cuphea shoots up leggy, flinging its flowers to the very tips while the lower stems strip bare, and shade only drives that stretch harder. The fix is quick and rewarding: pinch the semi-woody stems back a few times through the season and park the plant in full sun. Do that and it powers back, dense and bushy.
Fix:
- Pinch back the tips of the semi-woody stems a few times during the growing season
- Site in full sun for denser, more compact growth
Toxicity
Great news for homes with pets and small kids: cuphea is non-toxic clean across the board. No part of the plant is known to harm cats, dogs, livestock, or people, so plant it right by a play area or a pet run and never think twice.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Cuphea carries no known toxins, so a curious cat can nose around and even nibble a leaf or flower with nothing to fear.
Dogs None
A dog can romp past or chew on this plant and stay fine, since it doesn't make the poisonous list.
Horses Safe
Horses grazing close by have nothing to dread, as no part of the plant is known to harm them.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits can graze the foliage freely, since cuphea packs no compounds that would upset them.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep can graze right alongside it in a pasture or border with zero poisoning risk.
Birds Safe
Those tubular flowers pull hummingbirds in close, and garden birds run no risk from the plant at all.
People Safe
Cuphea rates as non-toxic, so let the kids explore the leaves and blooms without a worry.
Varieties
Cuphea spans a wide, fun group, from low purple-flowered shrubs to blazing firecracker types. Here are the ones you'll run into most.
Cuphea hyssopifolia (Mexican heather, false heather)
This densely branched little sub-shrub of 1 to 2 feet packs on countless small lavender-purple trumpet flowers, and pink and white cultivars are out there to hunt down too.
Cuphea ignea (cigar flower)
Its inch-long tubular blooms blaze reddish-orange, tipped white with a dark ring just like a lit cigar, and hummingbirds chase them all summer.
Vermillionaire (Cuphea hybrid 'Cupver')
This vigorous firecracker-type hybrid cranks out masses of orange tubular flowers and laughs off real heat.
How to propagate
Cuphea multiplies with ease, whether you sow seed in late winter or root a handful of tip cuttings to carry a favorite through the cold.
Stem cuttingsEasy
Take tip cuttings in fall and root indoors over winter for overwintering · A few weeks to root
Want to carry a plant straight through winter? Snap off tip cuttings in fall and root them indoors, where they take hold in just a few weeks. Dial the watering back through fall and winter as they settle, since cool, damp conditions invite rot and can undo all that effort.
SeedEasy
Start indoors 10 to 12 weeks before the last spring frost · Germinate and grow on for transplanting after frost
Fire up a flat of seed indoors 10 to 12 weeks before your last spring frost, then grow the seedlings on and move them out once the cold clears. And if that head start feels like a stretch, grab some transplants instead, since they take just as readily.
Myths
Cuphea must be deadheaded to keep it blooming.
Hang up the snips and let it run, because these plants are self-cleaning and shed their spent flowers themselves. They keep firing off blooms from spring clear through to the first frost with no deadheading at all.
Cigar flower can only survive as a houseplant in cold climates.
No windowsill needed. This tender perennial holds its own in the ground through zones 9 to 12, and where winters turn cold you just run it as a warm-season annual or stash a few cuttings to grow on.