My brilliant red Cantua flowers from Chile

This bush is my fifteen year old Cantua, which is a popular plant in Chile. My shrub is about 6 feet tall, and my friend who moved here from Chile told me that a Cantua at her home there reached her second story bedroom window. The flowers form only on the tips of the branches.

Like me, do you collect quotes? Garden quotes are favorites of mine and I have several books of them.
"Flowers are heaven's masterpieces." -- Dorothy Parker
"See nature, and through her, God.." -- Henry David Thoreau.  My dear uncle Leroy Pelkin introduced me to reading Thoreau and Emerson beginning when I was a child of perhaps ten.
I still have some old hardcover books by Thoreau and Emerson, printed about 1906, that Uncle Leroy gave me.

"Flowers are our greatest silent friends." -- Jim G. Brown
"The man who has planted a garden feels that he has done something for the good of the whole world." -- Charles Dudley Warner. I agree, she or he has done something good to benefit all of us.

Cantua, brilliant red flowers

Cantua buxifolia
Originally uploaded by philipbouchard

Cantua buxifolia is in full flower in my yard right now, with glowing bursts of red fire from its 3 inch long trumpet shaped flowers, at the ends of gracefully arching branches.

My two plants are each 6 feet tall, and I learned about the Cantua from my Chilean gardening friend. We went to a plant nursery and had the manager order five plants for us.

This plant is beloved in Chile, and for good reason. These long lived shrubs develop thicker trunks and branches, and even reach second story windows in Chile, she told me. Here in California they top out at 5 to 10 feet tall. Hummingbirds are attracted to them.

Each year prune back branches since the flowers appear at the end of branches with new growth. Since they can be a bit bedraggled in the cold months, and lose some leaves, I have other plants growing on and through them, including a flowering sage.

Some Cantuas have flowers of varied hues; I am so happy that my two shrubs are loaded with the brilliant red flowers I wanted.
Ideal for zones 9b to 11, or overwinter them in a greenhouse.

Name your must have plants

Hi gardeners,
Do you have any plants you consider essential?
Post them in a comment if you are so inspired.
For my vegie patch, tomatoes, basil and cilantro are must haves.
I have 4 roses that I am fond of. One multiflora pink rose arches over a statue of Mary, so is the focal point, with her, of my little ol Mary Garden.
Rosemary also graces her garden, and it is super to have fresh rosemary sprigs available. Just put a few sprigs in the oven when baking chicken or roasting beef.
The branches are also fun to add to charcoal briquets, for outdoor grilling.
I also admire my two cantua plants, which are about seven feet tall, and have splashy red trumpet shaped flowers most of the year, that hummingbirds like. The cantua is the national flower of Chile, and my friend from Santiago told me about its beauty.
Any favorites you want to share?