Last year was exciting for The Garden Guy, as I became introduced to a plant called Estrellita Little Star. The name is neat to me, as "estrellita" actually means "little star." While that might sound redundant, it also sounds like a profound introduction: This beautiful flower is Estrellita — Little Star.
It is like Spanish and English celebrating together a wonderful new flower to the gardening world. Its debut was exciting to me in that the plant, which is known botanically as Bouvardia, is native to Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and my home state of Texas. How did a native Texas horticulturist, a guy who took graduate taxonomy, not know this plant? I'm not so naive to think I know all native Texas plants.
My Texas A&M taxonomy professor Ed McWilliams would have been the first to concur. But this is a drop-dead-gorgeous plant, and it attracts pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. As much as I fell in love with Estrellita Little Star, there is a new one making its debut next year called Estrellita Scarlet.
So, my color analysis is that Estrellita Little Star, which is called orange red by Proven Winners, looks like coral or is a fiery orange that ages to coral. The Estrellita Scarlet is a fiery scarlet for its entire existence. The Estrellita Little Star has larger flowers but not quite as many as Estrellita Scarlet.
Both plants look to be up to 2 feet tall and wide. Proven Winners labels each one as Bouvardia x. But a little searching would make you think th.