IXORA

Large group of tropical evergreen shrubs with handsome foliage, showy clusters of flowers. They take salt air and prefer fertile, well- drained, acid soil; plants suffer from chlorosis (yellow leaves with green veins) in alkaline soil. Subject to a host of insects and diseases; difficult to keep healthy without constant vigilance. Not usually browsed by deer.

• Native to Caroline Islands.
• To 310 feet tall, 5 feet wide.
• Slender, oblong leaves are somewhat leathery, 612 inches long, 2 inches wide.
• Large flower clusters, sometimes up to 10 inches across; blossoms open deep red, then fade to crimson.
• Super King is an excellent, long-blooming selection (sometimes sold as Ixora coccinea).

• Native to India.
• Most commonly grown ixora, with many selections featuring blossoms in shades of red, orange, pink, yellow.
• Grows 78 feet high and 6 feet wide but is usually kept smaller by occasional tip pinching or pruning.
• Whorled leaves are glossy and leathery, 24 inches long and about half as wide.
• Flowers are 2 inches long and appear in large, dense clusters at branch tips throughout the warm months of the year.
• Dies back after a freeze but recovers.
• Favorite decorative hedge in Florida.
• Great plant for the beach where hardy.