Candy Corn Plant or Mexican Giant Cigar Plant. This perennial has given and given and given for us here in zone 8. From late summer until we have a hard freeze, this plant is a traffic-stopper. It is one of our best perennial sellers in the fall at our garden center because we have it planted just outside of our front door. If one mulches it well, I think it would survive well into zone 7. It gets to 3-4' with brilliant tubular flowers which open yellow and the slowly turn to a deep orange with spikes occupying the top 1' of its stems until we have a hard freeze. It will remain evergreen even at 25-30°F. For best flowering, grow in full sun to part shade. It is one of the best butterfly and humming bird attracters in the garden and is native to Mexico but not invasive. Frankly our clone seems to be slightly different from others that I have seen because most report a size of 1-3', but ours easily reaches 4' by fall and the flowers seem more pronounced. These photos were taken in the front garden at our nursery.
Zones 8-10
