Aphelandra sinclairiana

[Cindy Adair]

https://www.chicagobotanic.org/plantcollections/plantfinder/aphelandra_sinclairiana--panama_queen_orange_shrimp_plant
 

The pink to purple combined with orange is not a color combination I would normally choose.
 

However remembering the more than half a century I lived in temperate climates, I am not complaining about my December bold tropical splendor.

[mnorell]

That's very striking, Cindy. The species really has some intense colors going! I don't think I ever tried that species though I've seen it offered occasionally by specialist mail-order nurseries. There are so many striking species in this genus. Another one that I like, and that I grow and flower successfully out here in the Palm Springs area, is Aphelandra hartwegiana. It is a little less Technicolor but striking nonetheless with its huge vertical orange inflorescence. Grows and blooms easily in shade, under canopy, doesn't complain about heat (to at least 120F) or cold (at least above 32F). The popular Aphelandra squarrosa is a tough grow here because it is very "wet" in its composition, similar in its stems to an Impatiens, and rots very easily in many of California's soils during the long period of winter chill. Big Box stores sell it in large quantities but it is typically grown in dense peat, and many rot even while under the care of the stores' (overwatering) employees. I couldn't grow any Aphelandra at our place in the Florida Keys because members of the Acanthaceae are prime delicacies for the Key Deer. The only species in that family I ever found that the deer wouldn't touch is another beauty in that family, Megaskepasma erythrochlamys. Obviously there is some kind of warning chemical in that plant that they can smell, as they won't even take one bite. Apparently Aphelandra never figured out that secret...

[Cindy Adair]

Thanks so much mnorrel for all the interesting information!

You gave me an excuse to take a break from holiday cooking and wander outside to photograph a couple more.

Here in the mountains of PR all the Aphelandras I have tried so far have done fine. Some are leggy but when I remember to cut them back they bush out. 
 

I certainly have seen the A. squarossa as sold in the States to be short lived but bought here and planted out they get big and are care free. 

I planted a trip on a slope and really need to chop them back again as they partially block a path.

I do like Aphelandra hartwegiana but I had to source it from Gardino nursery in FL as I have not seen it available here. 
 

None of these are at their peak flowering  this month but I enjoy them all year.

 

[Dartolution]

@Cindy Adair your PR garden never ceases to amaze me! I have both Aphelandras in pots up here. Hartwegiana blooms in late summer - fall for me, while sinclairiana typically begins to bud up around February and blooms through June! They are both amazing. 

Does your Sinclairiana have a moth ball smell as well? 

 

[mnorell]

On 12/20/2022 at 7:13 AM, Cindy Adair said:

Thanks so much mnorrel for all the interesting information!

You gave me an excuse to take a break from holiday cooking and wander outside to photograph a couple more.

Here in the mountains of PR all the Aphelandras I have tried so far have done fine. Some are leggy but when I remember to cut them back they bush out. 
 

I certainly have seen the A. squarossa as sold in the States to be short lived but bought here and planted out they get big and are care free. 

I planted a trip on a slope and really need to chop them back again as they partially block a path.

 

 

Those are beautiful A. hartwegiana, Cindy. I love them also because that striking orange inflorescence is very long-lasting, long after the individual flowers have disappeared. 

The picture you posted above looks to be a Sanchezia species, another pretty genus in the Acanthaceae (and it does resemble A. squarrosa superficially).