Lion’s Ear / Wild Dagga

Delightfully unique tubular orange flowers appear on spiky pincushion-like spheres that form at intervals up stems. Klip Dagga is very easy to grow and absolutely stunning in late summer waving in the breeze.

Plants grow 8-12′ tall and may require staking late in the season and in high wind areas. All parts of the plant, especially flower petals, have wide ranging medicinal uses and are said to have a mild calming and euphoric effect.

Hummingbirds have turf wars over this plant, perhaps because they use it medicinally, too. Regardless of their motivation, we highly recommend Klip Dagga for planting where you can watch the hummingbirds go wild for this plant. The pincushion flower bracts are difficult to handle but fun to look at and are interesting in dried flower arrangements.

Related to Lion’s Tail/Wild Dagga, but easier to grow and more productive. May self-sow. Native to Southern Africa where it is called Cordao. Aka, Devil’s Pincushion.

• Days to Maturity: 60 
• Companion Plants: Coreopsis, Elecampane, Poppies, Salvia, Sunflower 
• Open Pollinated (OP), Perennial
• Plant Spacing: 36 - 48”

Photo credit: Adaptive Seeds