Eremophila maculata "'Valentine'.

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Bright Red On Valentines Day
I don't usually have a problem with winter color around the garden. I have plenty of bedding plants in containers, both pots and hanging baskets, to give me all the color I need. Yes, the trees and shrubs don't add much because they've either lost their leaves or turned a yellowish green. Of course the citrus trees, as long as they still have fruit, offer plenty of green and orange or green and yellow color with the lemons and grapefruit.

While wandering the plants of a local nursery one winter's day I happened to run across a colorful little five gallon shrub covered in small, but bright red flowers. I put three of them on a cart and rolled them up to the cash register so I could pay for them, then placed them in the bed of my truck and took them home to plant.

An Australian native small leafed shrub, Eremophila maculata 'Valentine' offers small but showy winter blooms.
Dense growth, small leaves, bright tubular flowers of 'Valentine'.
The foliage of 'Valentine' takes on a purplish hue during cool weather.

The shrubs were an Emu bush, Eremophila maculata 'Valentine' a native of Australia that offered small green leaves but with a compact very dense growth. An added attraction were the small tubular flowers that bloomed in late winter and seemed to cover the shrub.

I planted one next to a flagstone walk on the east side of the house. The other two were planted out in the open where they would get plenty of sunshine between the ramada and a Desert Museum palo verde. Capable of spreading to four or five feet I hoped the two shrubs would eventually grow towards one another and make a nice large shrub with lots of colorful blooms in the winter. They are growing, but not as quickly as I'd like and I must admit they don't get regular watering and have to pretty much survive on their own. I kept them fenced when they were small to keep the rabbits away and recently unfenced them hoping the bunnies will find something more to their liking. So far so good.

Will he or won't he? Although fenced this cottontail rabbit stood on his hind feet to eat the foliage and flowers of the Eremophila maculata.

The third plant, located on the east side of the house, has been the biggest disappoint not showing very much growth. It gets watered much more regularly but has the misfortune of not getting nearly as much sunshine as required. The plants like full sun. In the winter this one gets very little and in the summer, it's in the shade much of the afternoon. If I want it to grow I should probably find a new location. The rabbits and round-tailed squirrels also like to feed on that particular plant. Although fenced the rabbits manage to go under the fencing and the squirrels climb over it. After this years bloom I'll trim the plant and move it near the other two and hope that it does better.

The flowers of Valentine form on new growth each year so once the showy bloom is over it's recommended the plant be lightly pruned to encourage next year's bloom. (2010)

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