Pentas BeeBright Series Mixed Color Compact Hybrid
( Pentas Hybrid BeeBrightMix)
Pentas BeeBright Mixed Hybrids Origins:
Native to tropical regions of Africa.
This super compact Pentas lanceolata from Syngenta growers is the smallest one that I know of yet. What I love about that with their excellent breeding of this super compact cultivar is that it eliminates the need for the big wholesale growers to spray the plant with growth regulators to keep it small on the shelf longer to sell. For me being the butterfly pollinating insect lover that I am I love it when a plant gets less sprays of any kind! The Beebright series is a super compact low growing selection of an old garden favorite that gets much wider than it does tall and tends to stay at that 6-8 inch height but spreads out wide to almost 12-14 inches. It provides a long lasting bloom season perfect for front of the border plantings where you want to draw attention to the landscape here in our North east Florida | Jacksonville | St. Augustine area.
Pentas BeeBright Series Preferred Exposure:
– Pentas BeeBright Series will prefer a full sun or partial shade partial sun location.
Pentas BeeBright Series Foliage:
– Bright green coloring , super compact foliage.
Pentas BeeBright Series Soil Preference / Salt tolerance: Pentas BeeBright Series is not particular about the components of the soil it is planted in providing they are planted in a well draining location. They are at home in Floridas dry sandy soils but will benefit from ammending the soils with compost at planting time!
– Salt tolerance for Pentas BeeBright Series is unknown.
Pentas BeeBright Series Size Variance, Growth Habit and Growth Rate:
– Pentas BeeBright Series is very tight and low growing quickly reaching its mature size of 6-8 inches high and 10-12 inches wide in the landscape. This cultivar is quickly gaining popularity among wholesale nursery growers because it stays compact and doesn’t outgrow the smaller container pots plants are sold in quickly. What I love about that compact habit is that it makes for a great mixed pot plant. These little Beebrights play well with others in a mixed container planting and don’t overgrow their neighbors like some of the more robust selections may. In fact it is one of if not the shortest Penta selection available on the market today. You can expect them to reach their full size potential within the first growing season in the landscape.
Pentas BeeBright Series Bloom:
– two inch wide clusters of star shaped tubular blooms in late spring summer and fall. BeeBright Series Mix contains colors of white, red, pink and hot pink or lipstick.
Pentas BeeBright Series Water Requirements:
– Although Pentas are a fairly drought tolerant plant selection and very much at home in drier sandy soil gardens in Florida, like the others the Pentas BeeBright Series will require supplemental irrigation for best blooms and growth but like other penta selections will forgive you quickly if you fail them.
Butterfly or Bird Attracting:
– Pentas BeeBright Series will attract butterflies and other pollinators to your gardens
landscape.
Best Uses For Pentas BeeBright Series in the North Florida | Jacksonville |
St. Augustine area garden:
– Pentas BeeBright Series is a new cultivar for me and I am loving their super compact habit that makes them ideal for both edge of the border plantings that wont outgrow into sidewalks and in mixed containers where they spread nicely to fill their space but wont have a tendency to do a hostile takeover of your mixed a personal planting. They are a great low maintenance plant selection for loads of booms with almost no maintenance after planting. No need to pinch and prune!
– Plant in masses for easy maintenance blooms that make a great flowering display all during the spring summer and fall seasons in the Northeast Florida | Jacksonville | St. Augustine area landscapes.
Care of Pentas BeeBright Series in the North Florida | Jacksonville |
St. Augustine area landscape:
– Water every day during the establishment period after planting in the garden from a nursery container, once plants have established themselves into the landscape taper water back to just a weekly application if local rainfall levels are low.
– Whilke they may be planted as a perennial in central and south Florida 9 zone 10-11) this selection of Pentas is most often planted as an annual and replaced at the end of the season with cool season annuals. If it suits you, leave foliage and roots in place they may, depending on the winter, regrow for you in the following season. ( I would recommend covering the base of the plant with a thick layer of pine straw that you can remove the following spring and trim off dead stalks as new growth appears )
– Fertilize each spring and again in mid summer and fall with a handful of garden compost or a mixture of Milorganite and a slow release poly coated plant food such as Osmocote or Stay Green general purpose plant food
or 10-10-10.