Let's get a feel for how many and what kinds of hibiscus folks have.
I have 14 different tropical hibiscus, 5 new liners and 10 rooted cuttings(of my own stock) - - all which are being overwintered inside under lights. Just a few that come to mind:
Cameo
Gabriel
5th Dimension
Double Kona
Ruffled Beauty
Purple Magic
El Capitolio - red and salmon
Snow Queen
SunShowers
Molten Lava
God's Grace
And I have seven hardy hibiscus which were all planted this year.
I have been growing and overwintering tropical hibiscus for the last five years.
How many hibiscus do you have?
I'm new to Hibiscus this year. I have 2 hardy Lady Baltimore's. I also have an unknown yellow tropical that folks were telling me looked like a Yellow Wings.
I do have 7 (I think it is) on order thru Nadi's coop for hardy hibiscus.
Here are mine......
Bleeding Heart (Full TRIPLE soft red blooms)
Blue Mist
Cooperii (Multicolored variegated leaves, single red bloom)
Double Houla Girl
El Capitolio aka Chinese Lantern Type Peach
El Capitolio aka Chinese Lantern Type Red
Firth Dimension
Peach, fully double flower with no name similar to this one [HYPERLINK@www.hibiscusparadise.com.au] "Gulf Coast City"
Lavender Chiffon
Mohoi Variegata
Snow Fire
Snow Queen (Variegated Green/White Leaf with red single bloom)
Sun Showers
General Corteges (variegated/red blooms)
Schizopetula
I tried to get a Lavender Chiffon on a end of season summer sale at Parks and it ended up being sold out after they charged my card. They had to credit it back to me.
I have a bunch of Fireballs and a few Fantasias...also a couple of Kopper King. Fireball is really strong and super heat tolerant. The best looking ones have southern and western exposures in my yard.
Oh YAY!!! I've been waiting for the hibiscus forum to get here!!
I'm really new to hibiscus, I got some as gifts this summer, so I've only had them for a few months and they haven't flowered yet, I am so excited for next year though!!! Here is what I have so far;
Purple Magic
Sun Shower
Hot Ticket
Blushing Bride
Millenium Star
Ocean Spray
Opening Act
Cloud Nine
Heaven's Peace
Rainbow Christie
Bette Evans
Cotton Candy
God's Grace
Golden Anniversary
Jim Berry
Kiss & Tell
Marilyn Quayle
Wedding Band
Hawaiian Sunset
Tamibon
I have them all stuffed into the greenhouse right now, and hopefully as soon as summer gets here they will do well outside!!
Raven
WOW! I am wanting Hot Ticket and Hawiian Sunst!
I don't know most of my Tropical hibiscus' names and I have about 8.
The ones I know the names to are:
Snow Queen
El Capitolio - Chinese Lantern Type Peach
El Capitolio - Chinese Lantern Type Red
I also have :
Double/Triple Red
Yellow w/red center
Huge Pink- ***Pictured below***
Single Pink Single Red
MsCK - that's a gorgeous hibiscus!!
Thanks, it is one of my favorites.
DH gave it to me as a "gift" ( he knows he can never go wrong buying plants ) and it's flowers are huge, like 10-12 inches in diameter. I plan to take a few cuttings and try my luck to get a few more,maybe I will have some to share come spring, wish me luck.???
MsC
You betchya I'm sending luck your way! The world will be a mighty prettier place if you get them cuttings to go.
MsCritter,
Will tropical Hibiscus overwinter where you are outside? They will not survive in our area.
Hiya Steve,
Yes, the tropical hibiscus does fairly well here for me.
I have most of mine in pots and rarely lose them to weather, Rio, my big dog usually get my plants before the weather has a chance at them...lol
You could probable keep them in pots and store them in a garage for winter, have you tried that? Some of the older non hybrids would probable be worth a try.
MsC
Steve, I have been storing tropical hibiscus in my garage for the winter for about 5 years. In that time, I have only lost one plant and I think that I stored it too close to the door (and it got too cold).
I dose them with a systemic insecticide prior to bringing them inside and take them outside to be hosed off a couple of times during the winter (weather permitting). I keep them them on the dry side and they do lose a lot of leaves - -but never go completely dormant.
Your zone is much warmer than mine and if you have room, it should be fairly easy to overwinter them in a garage.
Nat - thanks for the info. I only have the one Tropical and I brought it inside last night as we had a hard freeze. It's in my house now, but was wondering how it would do in the garage.
I have a grow stand with lights in my basement for seed-starting I do. Do you think I could put the Tropical down there say on the floor next to the stand so it gets some of the light? I don't really have room to put it UNDER the lights directly.
Thanks!
Brenda
Brenda,
I always place large potted plants around my grow light stands. Just rotate the plants periodically. But unless tropical hibiscus receive a lot of light, they will drop leaves and not grow much - - so don't be surprised if yours lives but doesn't thrive. My large hibiscus that are stored in the garage are placed near windows - - but receive very little direct sunlight. My goal is to get them to live through the winter, and once they receive sunshine and warmth - - they take off growing again.
Another pointer on overwintering tropicals in the garage: The concrete floor gets really cold and I elevate all my tender potted plants by setting them on something. An upturned saucer works great. Especially in the winter, I am convinced that the air temperature is warmer than the concrete. I learned this the hard way when several tender plants sitting directly on the concrete floor bit the dust - - while everything that was elevated did fine.
Great advice Nat!!! Question.....do you put them back outside after all chance of frost is gone or does it need to be warmer than that? Say 50 or 55 degrees? I thought I read that somewhere. Also do you give them any kind of fertilizer thru winter? If not do you when you put them back outdoors?
Last question (I promise!).......What do you use to fertilize with during growing season and at what strength?
Muchos gracias!
Do we get to count the ones we shared with the gophers?
Tropicals
Amour
Bright Eyes
Caleb
Cameo
Cherie
Coconut Wind
Crown of Bohemia
Cupcade
Double Classic
Empire
Fiesta
Full Moon or Monoon
Gabriel
Golden Dust (gopher)
Grosse Tete
Hula Girl
Itsy Bitsy Red or Moned
Jambalaya
Kona Princess
Lanai
Ooh La La
Powder Puff or Monsa
Red Dragon or Mongon (gopher)
Ruffled Beauty
Rum Runner
Seminole
The Path
Wheel of Fortune
Yes
I am in the process of rooting cuttings from all. Most are in the ground and I don't want to loose any more to gophers or that unusual frost that I didn't prepare for. They really do root out very easily. Here is what I did between raindrops yesterday afternoon.
Oh Potemup - - Look at that list!!
Brenda, I am a crazy woman when it comes to trying to beat my zone limitations - - so you may not want to necessarily do what I do. But I put my favorites on wagons and roll them in & out for several weeks before leaving them out permanently. My tropicals do not go outside permanently until nighttime temperatures stay above 50.
Regarding fertilizing, I have gone almost completely organic with all my plants. Trop. Hibiscus seem to bloom better if somewhat root bound - - so I only repot (usually in the spring) up one pot size as needed (some have been in the same pot for years - - others get repotted annually or more). When I repot, I add 1/3 earthworm castings to 2/3 potting mix - plus a generous dose of an organic fertilizer. And they receive weekly dosings of a "tea" - rotating manure/kelp/afalfa. Occassionally, I will jump start a lagging plant with a dose of Miracle Gro - - but am doing that less and less.
Nat - do you have your own vermiculture setup or do you get your castings somewhere? Where do you get your kelp & alfalfa pellets?
I thought it was suppose to be like 50* before tropicals went outdoors in Spring. Thanks for confirming.
I have given serious thought to having a worm bin - - but have decided against it. I buy my castings - - this year from Tennesee Crawlers as it is cheaper to buy locally (shipping is prohibitive). But I recently priced them at www.Wormsway.com and even with shipping that site is competitive in price.
I get my kelp from Wormsway and my alfalfa from the feed store ( a couple of friend and I share a bag).
Here's photo of Purple Magic that was purchased as a small plant in February 04, and here it is in July - - fertilized the organic way.
Wow, Nat!! Just gorgeous. I love that splashed coloring in that one. Is there a term for that type of coloring in hibiscus?
I've bookmarked the wormsway link. Thanks....I'll ponder thru their site this winter. Certainly will look at the kelp - I've considering trying it before but haven't seen it anywhere locally.
I am so excited about having a hibiscus forum
I have mostly liners some from proplants and some from exotic hibiscus I will have to make a list of the names so I can add them to the list.
I think one of the ones that curt from exotic sent me is an unreleased one but I am not sure.
Alice - you do tropicals up there? Well I'll be. I've been missing out on this wonderful hibiscus world. Gonna be changing that I think. :-)
Thanks for the advice MsCritter and Nathalyn:-)
I'll try the pots. I think the leaves on tropical Hibiscus are much nicer than on the hardy ones, and the flowers are more varied.
Nathalyn, I dunno about us being "much" warmer...maybe in summer, but your average lows are 2 degrees or less colder than ours in Dec. through Feb., though we warm up somewhat more during the day. We drop into the 20's and even teens regularly in winter here. In fact, I see it's 53 there now and only 51 here! The price I pay like Langbr for living on the plains. There is a BIG difference between here and the TX coast :-) On the old maps we were in 7b, but on the new one we seem to have migrated to 8a.
Well Steve, it sounds like our zones are pretty similar. If you like tropical hibiscus for the foliage, you may want to consider one of the Trop. Hibiscus with variegated foliage like SnowQueen. It's one of those plants that everyone that sees it wants to know what it is. Plus it is a super fast grower.
Brenda, I don't know if that splashed coloring has a name. I do know that the more sun that Purple Magic receives - - the more white splashes on the blooms. What you can't tell in that photo is how large the blooms are - - usually 7 to 8 inches across.
I really love Hibiscus. I have a unnamed red and yellow tropical that I bought at Fred Meyer this last summer and then just today I recieved my ebay order for 5 liners that are all planted up and snug in my living room under lights.
They are
Cotton Candy
buckeye Colors
Cloud Nine
Heaven's Peace
Hot Ticket.
I can't wait for them to bloom this year. I'm sure that it won't be till they get to go back outside but they should be nice size by then.
Also the red and yellow I bought are larger plants that I have left out in an unheated greenhouse. We shall see how they do. So far so good but our worst weather is in Jan/Feb. I'll watch the night time temps and hold my breath. If it looks bad I'll haul them in the house. Might as well, my DH is starting to think he's living in a forest. :)
Robinz
Robin - You just have to keep us posted on your liners' growth and your experiences. It will help me (a total novice) at taking care of new babies from these coops! Who did you buy your eBay liners from?
I bought them from the same lady they are talking about in the co-op. Her name is Carol and she also sells on ebay. The plants aren't huge by any means but they are very nice. I would say the five I bought from her on ebay range in size from probably 5" - 8" and that is measuring from the dirt up. They are plugs and the roots look very healthy. They also came with planting directions. I put each one in a 4" pot with a little osmacote (sp). I have shelving with florecents and one shelf has a heat mat. I've got them on heat for now but I'll take them off after a couple days and move them to a different self with lights. I've never done this before either but they look so good that I'm hoping they will be just fine. If anyone cares I'll post a picture of them this weekend.
Robin
Hi, Natalyn
This is a great thread. I do not have any, yet. I did signup on the thread would you be interested. I want to try a few, just wish I had a GH.
My question to the warm climate folks, how large do they grow for you? Do you ever plant them them directly in soil?
I think they are so lovely.
Teresa in KY
Teresa,
I am going to email you. I can bring you some small rooted cuttings when I visit my folks over Thanksgiving. Nat
Mine are all going in the ground. Right now there are 19 in the ground. They definitely need pruning to control. There are several around town that are as tall as the one story homes they grow against and probably 6-8 ft wide. They make a wonderful hedge. All of mine are relatively new (total remodel & landscape of a "dump" home in 1997-2000) but the 3 year olds are 5 ft tall. We do get a few days of freeze, so I run out and cover them. This year I am wiring them up with christmas tree lights for warmth.
George - you better share some of those pics!! I had no idea they could get so big!
I have some liners now from both exotic hibiscus and from Carol on ebay. The ones I bought from ebay are a few weeks ahead of the others but so far they are all still surviving.
I wanted to try some from both before I decided on a coop with anyone.
Here is a good example of size, taken today. Notice the lower portion is pruned so the car can get back to the garage.
My goodness, George. I had no idea that got that tall!
Wow!! I just found this forum. I am new to Hibiscus, but this summer managed to collect ;
Hardy - plum crazy
Tropicals -
Christmas Frost
Antique Treasure
Rennaisance Blue
Crimson Ray
Gypsy Music
Anxious for these co-ops you all are talking about to add to my collection!!
Deb
Nat, your Purple Magic is a beauty!! All I need is another tropical obsession!! LOL What I need is a greenhouse - maybe next year. I need to start planning it in the spring, though!!
Brenda, I would be hard pressed to chose between brugs and hibiscus. After getting some of the good hybrid hibiscus last year, I have been bitten by tropical fever for sure!
I could sure use a greenhouse also - - but would settle for good shelving and lighting in my basement. So many plants.....so little money! :)
I am a newbie to DG. I am glad I found this Hibiscus forum. I have 2 hardy hibiscus, just planted last year small but colourful. 5 Tropical I only know the names of two of them " Holly's Pride " and " El Capitolio Peach "
Anna