Glowing Red Hot Embers™ Ardisia Delivers Year-Round Color

Color is #1 on the wish list of landscaping demands, and Red Hot Embers™ Ardisia delivers stunning foliage color year-round, plus clusters of brilliant red ornamental berries from October to April. Stunning hot pink dappled leaves turn maroon in winter, while clusters of bright red berries last seven months per year.

Also a top-notch container plant, Red Hot Embers™ is superb as a potted ornamental for colder areas of the country. In a container the variation in leaf color and long-lasting trusses of 60-80 red berries can be observed close-up, and it can be brought under protection in winter. 

New leaves emerge in spring as shocking hot pink with deep wine-red markings; darken with maturity to glowing claret; and still later in the season turn a deeper maroon with dark red highlights throughout the winter. Loose racemes of pale pink flowers are borne in the leaf axils on long branched pedicels, and bloom in constellations of 60-80 during spring. As ¼-inch berries mature to a brilliant red, they become exceedingly visible in fall and winter and last through April or even later.

In U.S.D.A. Climate Zones 8-11 Red Hot Embers™ Ardisia can substitute for colorful flowers. Originator Ted Stephens of Nurseries Caroliniana, Inc. in North Augusta, SC is a member of the Garden Debut® consortium of breeders, growers, retailers and marketers. Ted explains, “It’s a great landscape plants if one is in its climatic zone. I had one in my garden for about five years, then a 17°F night with heavy winds cut it back to the ground, although it did sprout back up the next spring. It had survived temperatures below this before with no damage, but there was little wind. That’s why I mentioned that in Zone 8, one needs to give Red Hot Embers™ Ardisia some wind protection.”

In warmer areas of the U.S. use in mixed beds, as a specimen plant, in borders, in raised beds or as a container plant that can be moved into winter protection if conditions warrant. 

For more information about Red Hot Embers™ Ardisia and other Great New Plants™ from Garden Debut®, visit www.gardendebut.com.