Hiya G12: After daylight savings returns, its location is full sun from noon til just before sunset. I water stuff around it. I don't specifically water it because it spreads so much and is so thick, you can't see where to water. It is a plant that conserves whatever water it can get, from rain or dew, simply because it spreads and shades itself. So, aside from any spring rains, I might give it "artifical" rain by shooting water over the area with my spray gun attachment from time to time. We had temps at night in the high twenties last week, but generally we seldom go below freezing during Winter. I believe this plant is "mediterranean" in origin, so it likes dry, no rain in summer, not too cold....but I'm not positive about my generalizations here. I am sure that it likes conditions in Northern CA however. Never heard "honeywort", but bees love it, so maybe that's a connection.

Yes, Lythrum (Loosestrife) banned in most states, including CT, as it chokes out other native vegetation along streams, lakes, waterways, bogs, marshes, etc. And it's such a shame because it's a beautiful plant. Be sure to deadhead. One plant can throw millions of seeds, but deadheading will contain the original plant to a spread of about 20 inches via the root system.

There are too many purple leaf plum varieties to name. They may have different forms or shapes or sizes. All I can do is guess from this distance but I would guess that it is a purple leaf plum.

Thanks buddy. Perhaps I should explain myself, lol! So, I'm a pro horticulturist in a medium-sized city not too far from Green Bay. One of my main areas of responsibility is designing, installing, and maintaining our community's ornamental display beds, planters, etc. I'm always on the lookout for an unusual plant which nevertheless would perform well for us, as an "annual". Our basic program is to create plans in November of the preceding year, put the plant needs out for bids at the local growers, and then whichever company gets our order, they grow the stuff for us and we plant out in late May, when most frost danger is past. So I'm never looking to carry stuff over the winter. That would be hugely cost-prohibitive. So let's say the Russelia could in fact work for us. What we would do would be to place an order for X amount of plants, along with all the other species and cultivars we'd be growing. Then, in late may, outplant and maintain for the summer. Some examples of some fairly unusual "tropical" items I've worked with in the past are: Mexican flame vines, popcorn cassia (getting pretty common now), Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia), uh...I'm sure I'm forgetting some more. This in addition to all the usual stuff that is actually of tropical origin, but which has been used in the trade so much that nobody thinks of it that way anymore, like Impatiens, cannas, etc. What i would like to do with the Russelia is just try one in my own garden at home and see if I could get decent performance out of it. The key issue with all of this is: How fast do the plants bulk up and how long to go into flowering mode. Probably the best success story we've had so far is the popcorn cassia-Cassia didymobotrya. Those things come out of the greenhouse maybe a foot tall or so, go into bloom almost immediately, and remain in flower all summer long, until freezing weather finally gets them. That's the kind of performance we can use. If something takes forever to get into its most colorful mode, then it's just taking up space that would be better filled by something else. So yeah, why don't we plan on you sending me a test sprig. It's actually warming up nicely already here, but I'm sure we'll be cold again, so maybe another couple of months to play it safe. Thanks much!