Jamesbrittenia 'Safari Dawn'
1Gallon Pot
The revolutionary Safari® series of Jamesbrittenia, commonly known as South African phlox, will blow you away. This heat tolerant flowering annual has been on the cusp of greatness for years but has never quite broken through with the right combination of reliable garden performance and beauty. We have finally cracked the code with the Safari series.
Jamesbrittenia is a relative of bacopa, and it can be used in many of the same ways – as a filler and spiller in hanging baskets, porch or patio pots and window boxes. However, since South African phlox is far more heat and humidity tolerant than bacopa, it continues to flower well throughout the warm summer months without going out of bloom. Safari South African phlox is one of the most dependable, long blooming annual flowers for warm climates. It is also more forgiving than bacopa when subjected to extreme weather events, holding onto its blooms through heavy rains and windstorms.
Characteristics
Plant Needs
The optimum amount of sun or shade each plant needs to thrive: Full Sun (6+ hours), Part Sun (4-6 hours), Full Shade (up to 4 hours).
Safari Dawn is great in landscapes with good drainage and containers of all kinds. They make wonderful components in combination recipes.
These are heat tolerant plants that aren't particularly fussy. However, this amazing Safari Dawn series of Jamesbrittenia hybrids, do like well-drained soil. They need little routine maintenance. They will perform best if an application of controlled release fertilizer is included at the time of planting. This applies to both landscape and container plantings. The plants aren't particularly heavy feeders, so a single dose is usually sufficient for landscape beds in most climates. If you have a very long season, a second application of controlled release plant food should be considered for landscape beds. In general, containers need to be fed more than landscape plants. A second application of a controlled release fertilizer should be applied about every two months to container plants or you can regularly apply water soluble fertilizer starting about two months after the containers are planted. These extra applications of plant food can really make a difference in performance through the summer.
If your plant begins to look open or a bit tired, an allover trim can be beneficial for this Jamesbrittenia hybrid. Use a sharp pair of scissors or pruning shears to trim back up to 1/3 of the volume of the plant, branching and flowering in Safari Dawn selections. I pair any trim with a dose of water soluble fertilizer to provide instant energy to help kickstart new growth, branching and flowering. Your plant will take a week to recover from the trim, but the end result is a fuller plant with more blooms going forward for this South African phlox. You may repeat the trim as needed through the season.