A divine little native plant, it is very useful for small gardens, shaded areas, and pots. It’s known as the “Love Flower” because it generally flowers around Valentine’s Day. But in my garden, it flowers for many months from the height of summer through to early autumn.

It’s small enough to pop into little gaps and to peek out between other taller plants as it handles shade well. It’s useful for adding flowers to the shaded areas of your garden and will even grow well in that tricky narrow spot down the side of your house and on the shaded side of a high fence. It is a sweet and tiny little plant but will reward you with a long flowering period and easily self seeds to fill small spaces, without being overly rampant.

Ideal for moist shade and will flower well in half shade to life shade and even heavy shade although a little less so. In subtropical to warm temperate climates it is very fuss-free and handles tropical downpours to dry periods. It does benefit from a little drink in the extended dry though.