Tecoma capensis

Tecoma capensis, Cape honeysuckle, is endemic to South Africa, Eswatini and southern Mozambique and is a vigourous, fast-growing member of the Bignoniaceae. It has a scrambling erratic growth habit, often sending out long lead branches that tend to lean on other plants and is best kept pruned and trimmed every year. In the warm temperate zones it is often used as a colourful flowering hedge. Although it lends itself to this type of formal pruning it is also ideal for more naturalistic shapes and benefits from its annual cut-back in the late winter. The flowers are very attractive and bring an exotic splash of colour to the garden in late summer and autumn. Elongated in shaped and a stunning bright orange, they are a magnet for many species of butterfly.

Tecoma capensis is very easy to grow but requires a warm sunny aspect in the UK. In most areas it will need some protection during cold weather and will often lose some of its foliage in extended periods of sub-zero temperatures. In warm urban microclimates it may be enough just to apply a thick mulch but fleecing during the worst of the winter weather is perhaps the most sensible approach.