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Safari® Dusk South African Phlox Jamesbrittenia hybrid

Flower Season
  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Fall
Mature Size
12" 2' 30cm 61cm
Height: 6" - 12"
Spread: 12" - 2'
Height: 15cm - 30cm
Spread: 30cm - 61cm
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  • Details

    6 - 12 Inches
    6 - 10 Inches
    12 - 24 Inches
    15cm - 30cm
    15cm - 25cm
    30cm - 61cm

    Features

    This revolutionary new series of Jamesbrittenia will blow you away. This heat tolerant South African native has seemingly been on the cusp of greatness for years, but has never quite broken through with the right combination of plant performance and beauty. We have finally cracked the code. Summer performance in both landcapes and containers is great. The blooms are sure to standout in your garden.

    Jamesbrittenia is a relative of Sutera that can be used in many of the same applications. However, since it is far more heat and humidity tolerant, it continues to bloom well throughout the warm summer months without cycling. It is also more forgiving than Sutera when subject to extreme weather events, holding onto its blooms through heavy rains and windstorms. Jamesbrittenia also comes in a broader range of colors. The newest member of the series, Safari Dusk, bears glitzy purple blooms with a gold eye. It complements the lighter lilac purple flowers of Safari Sky and the color-shifting variety, Safari Dawn, whose blossoms transition through rose pink and lavender shades while displaying a prominent yellow eye.

    Award Winner
    Continuous Bloom or Rebloomer
    Long Blooming
    Heat Tolerant
    Deadheading Not Necessary

    Characteristics

    Plant Type: 
    Annual
    Height Category: 
    Short
    Garden Height: 
    6 - 12 Inches 15cm - 30cm
    Trails Up To: 
    8 Inches 20cm
    Spacing: 
    6 - 10 Inches 15cm - 25cm
    Spread: 
    12 - 24 Inches 30cm - 61cm
    Flower Colors: 
    Purple
    Flower Shade: 
    Royal Purple with yellow eye
    Foliage Colors: 
    Green
    Foliage Shade: 
    Green
    Habit: 
    Mounded
    Container Role: 
    Filler

    Plant Needs

    Light Requirement: 
    Part Sun to Sun

    The optimum amount of sun or shade each plant needs to thrive: Full Sun (6+ hours), Part Sun (4-6 hours), Full Shade (up to 4 hours).

    Maintenance Category: 
    Easy
    Bloom Time: 
    Planting To Frost
    Hardiness Zones: 
    10a, 10b, 11a, 11b
    Water Category: 
    Average
    Needs Good Drainage
    Uses: 
    Border Plant
    Uses: 
    Container
    Uses: 
    Landscape
    Uses Notes: 

    They are great in landscapes with good drainage and containers of all kinds. They make wonderful components in combinations recipes.

    Maintenance Notes: 

    These are heat tolerant plants, that aren't particularly fussy. However, they do like well-drained soil. They need little routine maintenance. They will perform best if an application of controlled release fertilizer is included at the time of planting. This applies to both landscape and container plantings. The plants aren't particularly heavy feeders, so a single dose is usually sufficient for landscape beds in most climates. If you have a very long season, a second application of controlled release plant food should be considered for landscape beds. In general, containers need to be fed more than landscape plants. A second application of a controlled release fertilizer should be applied about every two months to container plants or you can regularly apply water soluble fertilizer starting about two months after the containers are planted. These extra applications of plant food can really make a difference in performance through the summer.

    If your plant begins to look open or a bit tired, an allover trim can be beneficial.  Use a sharp pair of scissors or pruning shears to trim back up to 1/3 of the volume of the plant. I pair any trim with a dose of water soluble fertilizer to provide instant energy to help kickstart new growth, branching and flowering. Your plant will take a week to recover from the trim, but the end result is a fuller plant with more blooms going forward. You may repeat the trim as needed through the season.

    Safari® Dusk Jamesbrittenia hybrid 'INJAMSAFDU' USPP 35,890, Can PBRAF
  • 2 Reviews

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    4
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    2
    1
    Browse reviews from people who have grown this plant.
    • I’m also losing these plants and I bought five of them. Every day I go out, I’ve either lost a section or the whole thing is crispy even though it feels damp. I live in Texas but it gets some shade along with sun and is planted on a slight slope so it’s not sitting in water even though we’ve had a lot of rain here. I’m curious to know if these were tested in Texas with our heat and humidity. I’ve heard you use the Dallas Arboretum for testing some of your plants. I’m going to dig them up to see if they can recover in pots. I’m not happy about this chunk of money out of my gardening budget.

      Sharron Minter
      , Texas
      , United States
      , 25 weeks ago
    • Grew this plant for the first time this summer. It started out cute, but as the summer progressed it got extremely leggy. Even with pruning it back several times, it still never produced the flowers it did when first planted. I eventually took it out of the planter. Not my favorite plant, I will not use it next year in my planters.

      Laura
      , Illinois
      , United States
      , 1 year ago
  • 3 Awards

    Award Year Award Plant Trial
    2023 Top Performer Michigan State University
    2023 Top Performer Penn State University
    2023 Leaders of the Pack - containers North Carolina State, JC Raulston Arboretum
  • 2 More colors

  • 1 Recipe

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