Asarina wislizeni Red Dragon - Climbing Snapdragon

Asarina wislizeni 'Red Dragon' is a beautiful variety with deep purple-red flowers that turn magenta-pink. Its flowers are reminiscent of snapdragons. They appear along the stems from summer until the first frost. They will even bloom into winter if protected from frost. It is a perennial plant with a tuberous root, but not very hardy. It is often grown as an annual or in pots to protect it from cold in a conservatory or unheated greenhouse. Climbing or trailing, this asarina is wonderful in hanging baskets, containers, or for adorning a small structure. It likes warmth and will thrive in moist but well-drained soil, in any exposure.

Asarina wislizeni 'Red Dragon' is a hybrid horticultural selection. One of its ancestors, Epixiphium wislizeni or Maurandya wislizeni, is a creeping botanical species with sandy soil origins in the desert areas of the southwestern United States (Texas, Arizona) and northern Mexico. There have been recent changes in the classification of asarinas: among them, asarina, maurandya, lophospermum, and epixiphium are distinguished. All these plants, once classified in the Scrophulariaceae family, have been moved to the Plantaginaceae family. Asarina wislizeni 'Red Dragon' is a plant with a tuberous, pivot-like root and voluble, climbing, or trailing stems. Its above-ground growth persists in frost-free winters, but its root can withstand a few degrees of frost in dry soil (-5°C (23°F) at its lowest point). In this case, the aerial growth is destroyed, but the plant produces numerous stems from its root in spring.

The 'Red Dragon' asarina grows rapidly, with stems that can reach 1.2m (4ft) in a season, or a little more in open ground. The flexible stems crawl on the ground or cling to their support using leaf petioles transformed into tendrils. They are adorned with pale-green to bluish-green heart-shaped leaves with toothed edges. Flowering begins in July and continues until the first frost. If the plant is stored frost-free, it can continue to bloom in winter. The tubular flowers appear in the axils of the leaves, along the stems. They are elongated trumpet-shaped flowers composed of a tube that slightly widens into 5 lobes. Each flower can measure up to 7cm (3in) long. The inside of the corolla is illuminated with a speckled cream throat. The flowers give way to the formation of capsules containing multiple seeds.

Asarinas are ideal plants for unheated conservatories. Outdoors, their rapid growth allows them to climb in one season on bushes or small trees, as well as on wire fences and trellises. Like ipomoeas or sweet peas, they can be hung in baskets or allowed to run in rockeries above walls. The key is to provide them with warmth, non-scorching sun, and soil that doesn't dry out too much. It is also possible to dig up the tubers before frost and overwinter them frost-free with very little watering.

Attention! These seeds are reserved for highly experienced gardeners who are accustomed to sowing very fine seeds. These seeds are as fine as dust, barely visible to the naked eye.