Description:
Showy tender rhizomatous herbaceous perennial. Tall plant 1.5-2.2 m grown for large colorful bronze-purple leaves (up to 50 cm long) on a stalk and groups of light-red flowers in middle of the summer to autumn frost. Tropical looking. Good foundation plant in large annual bed. When mature may have more than one stalk to a clump.

Notes:
Deadhead plants for continuous bloom. Can be grown in container with high phosphate fertilizer. In frost-prone regions store rhizomes over winter in peat moss. Keep from freezing. Do not get wet. Divide rhizomes in spring for replanting.

Cultivation:
Likes full sun in loamy fertile soil. Likes heat but do not allow soil to dry out. In early spring sow seeds in pots after soaking scored seeds for 24 hours in water. Keep at 21 C until germinated. Plant out in garden in early summer when soil is warm. Dig up rhizomes in fall after first frost