General Culture:

Winter hardy to USDA Zone 10. In St. Louis, best grown as annual bedding plants or in containers which can be overwintered indoors. In the ground, grow in moist, average to moderately fertile, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Best foliage color in full sun. Soils must be kept consistently moist. If soils dry out, rapid leaf drop usually occurs. Stems may be pinched to control size and shape and to promote bushiness. Take tip cuttings in late summer to overwinter. Container plants may also be overwintered as houseplants as long as they receive intense bright light and soils are kept uniformly moist.

Noteworthy Characteristics:

Native to Fiji and neighboring South Pacific islands, copperleaf is an evergreen, often suckering, tropical shrub or subshrub that may grow to 10-15’ tall and as wide in frost free areas. It is typically grown as an annual in St. Louis where it will grow 2-4’ tall in a single growing season. As the common name suggests, this shrub is grown for its attractive foliage which features shiny, coarsely-toothed, oval to elliptic, bronze-green leaves (5-8” long) that are mottled with red and purple or red and bronze. Insignificant green flowers, sometimes tinged with reddish-pink, appear in slender spikes to 8” long. Species is named after Admiral Charles Wilkes who explored the South Pacific in the 1800s. Synonymous with A. tricolor.