Pink mussaenda

Mussaenda philippica

Tropical Filipino shrub with insignificant small yellow tubular flowers surrounded by enormous showy pink or white leaf-like enlarged sepals that provide the long-lasting display.

Hardiness ratings

Pink mussaenda hardiness across the four zone systems
SystemRatingTemperature rangeHow to read it
USDA hardiness zone Zone 10–12 −1.1 °C to 15.6 °C Plant tolerates down to this zone
RHS hardiness rating H1c 5 °C to 10 °C Plant needs at least this level of cold tolerance
Canadian plant hardiness zone Zone 9 −1 °C and warmer Plant tolerates down to this zone
Australian (ANBG) zone Zone 4–7 0 °C and warmer Plant tolerates down to this zone

Growing notes

  • Native to the Philippines — widely grown across tropical Southeast Asia
  • Display is the enlarged sepals (not the flowers) — they last for weeks and provide a long ornamental display
  • Frost-tender — strictly tropical cultivation, struggles below zone 10
  • Cultivar ‘Queen Sirikit’ has soft salmon-pink bracts and is the standard commercial form
  • Not reliably hardy outdoors in Canada — Canadian zone values shown represent the system maximum and do not imply garden cultivation north of the warmest coastal pockets.

Categories

Related plants

Cross-check Pink mussaenda against your zones

Reference

Pink mussaenda on Wikipedia