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Tecomaria capensis (Red Cape Honeysuckle) - A rambling shrub that will grow to 20 feet with support or can be pruned into an upright shrub that is 8 feet tall or less with branches that root where they touch the ground. The shiny leaves are divided into 5-7 toothed and pointed leaflets, similar to a rose leaf. Orange-red long tubular flowers bloom in clusters during the fall and winter.
Plant in sun or light shade, needs little water. Cold hardy to 23° F although may lose leaves so leaves as temperatures fall below 25° F and tolerate seaside conditions. It is resistant to deer predation, but the flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies. A good plant that can be left in its natural form or can be sheared for use as a screen or hedge.
Tecomaria capensis is native to a large part of South Africa and found throughout Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal, Cape coast and Mozambique. The name Tecomaria comes from this plant's resemblance to the new world genus Tecoma, whose name comes from the native Mexican Nahuatl language name for plants with trumpet like flowers. The specific epithet means coming from the cape, in this case the Cape region of South Africa.
Many references have lumped Tecomaria into Tecoma but in an article titled "A Molecular Phylogeny and Classification of Bignoniaceae" in the September 2009 issue The Journal of Botany (96:9 pages 1731–1743) the authors (Richard G. Olmstead, Michelle L. Zjhra, Lúcia G. Lohmann, Susan O. Grose and Andrew J. Eckert) list the genus Tecoma as an entirely new world genus with Tecomaria's closest relative as Podranea in the Tecomeae clade and this is how the Kew database currently lists the two genera so we continue to list this plant as a Tecomaria. We also grow the lighter colored cultivar Tecomaria capensis 'Buff Gold'.
This information about Tecomaria capensis displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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