Luna Red Hardy Hibiscus

I have been anxiously waiting while the buds on this beauty got bigger and bigger. Today was the day!! Five gorgeous huge blooms were open for me.

Had to share!

Susan
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Here is the bush. I can't wait until it is really big and tall. I just got this last year and it has grown so much.

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Well, so much for big and tall. I just read in plant files that it gets to be 2' X 2' which is what it is now if not bigger.

oh well, I wouldn't change it for the world.

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You know me, I never post just ONE!
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Very pretty. It's always such a show to see multiple blooms on a plant. I wish they would last longer, tho.

Hi Susan:
Mine is also starting to bloom. I don't know why but the petioles are very short and the blooms don't open well as they stay under the leaves.

Regards

Carlos

and this is Luna White. I also have Luna Blush but it hasn't bloomed yet.

Regards

Carlos

Susan, I just love that first close-up picture! A bright and beautiful bloom :-)

Carlos, your white is lovely too :-)

Susan they are just beautiful! 5 at once? Cool! That white is SO white! I found a pink one this year, Pink Clouds..

today

Now I have to find that beautiful Luna White and Pink Clouds. LOL

What a beautiful color, and it's so heavy with blooms! Gorgeous!

thanks! I am in love with it!
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Susan your bush is picture perfect! You're making me want to plant more! lol

susan, there is hope for your luna red. My FIL has one (old plant) that is 4 ft tall x 2 wide. Dh was over there visiting last week and said his dad's plant was spectacular. So, when we went to my fave lowe's and they had 1 gal Luna Red and Luna White for $3 ea, he didn't fuzz at me for getting both. yipee.

your's a lookah.

Well I happened to stumble along and found this thread. I was searching for info on my plant. I didn't know the type of hibiscus it was. I just wish the petals lasted for more than a day. If you guys have any tips about this plant I would appreciate it.

the good news: it is very low maintenance. I won't be doing anything special to it, other than maybe throwing a little bit of slow release fertilizer each spring and trimming for shape if needed. that's it. It is a shame flowers only last a day, but then again, it flowers so much, I don't think it will be noticeable once the plant gets established.

I keep mine watered the first year and if we get a long dry spell. In zone 5 they freeze and die back.. they will come back from the roots in mid-late spring. Trim the old stems to the ground in early spring. It will produce seed and I've germinated them before. You can also take tip cuttings and root them for more plants. It is too bad we can't get one with blooms that last more than a day. Vossner that's great you got your sweetie getting plants for you!

here is a pretty that you all need to get: hardy hib Blue River II. I'm in love! The bit of skin showing is my wrist, the flower was 9" in dia!

wow, I want it!!

Me, too! It's gorgeous, too. How tall will the bush get?

My Luna Red is done, I guess, it doesn't bloom again does it?

I left 3 seed pods on it and they are getting bigger every day. Does this come true to type? I sure hope so. I would love to have more of these.

Susan
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Shouldn't your hibby keep blooming until frost? Maybe a little plant food will kick start another flush of blooms.

I was wondering the same thing about seeds... if they came true from seed, how would you get new cultivars? But I've never seen anything that said that they didn't come true. Anywho, those are just my morning musings, which mean nothing at all. ;)

I fell in love with these hardy hibiscus after getting 2 last year ~ I now have 10 varieties. Kopper King is giving it's first blooms

I was wondering which type of Hibiscus I have too! Here is the Luna White...next the one with pink...does anyone know its name?

BTW...kittymom...that color is gorgeous! I have to get one!

Hardy hibiscus are hard to beat when they start blooming. I lost a bunch last year from a terrible drought but they are just too beautiful not to keep trying.

Here is 'Fireball' a few days ago.

Wow! Fireball is gorgeous too! How do we decide with so many beauties!?

Reeny - the decision is to buy them all!!

Welcome to the wonderful world of hibiscus addiction :-)

Wow, hcmcdole, your Fireball is gorgeous. It's so red. Here is mine...not so red. LOL!

I admit it! I'm hooked! I want them all. I cannot get enough, but it's a harmless addiction, right?

Of course it's harmless - unless you count being broke all the time, lol!!

Keeps ya out of trouble, tho ~ ;)

I have the Luna White and the blooms are dinner plate sizes :) I also have the Luna Blush, Burgundy and the Luna Red, they are all almost 5’ tall and full of flowers right now, just beautiful! I wish I had a camera to take pictures! I thought I had planted the Blue River II and must have given that one away now I need seeds for that one, if you think the white is white on the Luna White you should see the Blue River II, it is snow white, that’s one white I wouldn’t mind having in my garden :) I also have the Sweet Hibiscus that is yellow and very pretty, it just started coming up and for the first time reseeded this year so now I have three more of them. Pink Clouds is very pretty too! And the Fireball! We should all trade some seeds this fall :) I would love to have every hardy hibiscus I can grow LOL They really aren’t that hard to germinate :) I grew all of mine from seed. Oh, I have the Hardy Pink one too that is blooming right now but it grows different, it branches out from the bottom and about 5’ around the top of it, it’s my favorite really, such a pretty deep pink. I also have the Texas Red and Texas White lol

reenygarden, I have one like yours too and if I'm not misstaken it's this one, the blooms are a little smaller, I had one come up out by the back door from throwing seeds out last fall and it's blooming now and almost 5' tall, I have another one that is three feet tall that I keep forgeting about in the field so I always whack it with the lawn mower before I realize it's coming up lol:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/982/

This year I have going in pots:

Carafe Bordeaux
Crown Jewels
Turn of the Century

I haven’t gotten them in the ground yet and they are about a foot tall and starting to bloom in 5” pots lol I would love sharing seeds with everyone if they want some :)

Yes Susan, they do come true from seed 8)

Yep, I’m addicted!!! Beautiful pictures everyone!

Lea

LeBug, I didn't know there were so many hardy hibbies. I was so enamored of the tropicals that I never paid any attention to the hardies. that is, until I spent an obscene amount on them one year, only to have them die on the one harsh (harsh for houston) winter we had. I swore them off. I do have one that Eclipse sent me and an dbl orange that seems to be surviving despite my inattention, but that's it for me as far as tropicals. One of my friends is telling me that there are some tropicals (other than the reg.red) that are as tough as the hardies, but I haven't investigated this further.

I just bought a hardy yellow one called Hamabo. I have seen it at our ext. demo gardens and is a more like a tree. Fabulous. I need to find out if it grows from seeds, I don't think so. I need to look into the Sweet Hibiscus which you say is yellow. would love to have that one. I am in love with Fireball.

And here I thought there was only red and pink hardy.

Hi voss ~ your Hamabo is a syriacus, the shrubby, Rose of Sharon type of plant.
For a yellow moscheutos there's Old Yella, one of the Fleming hybrids http://www.soonerplantfarm.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantDetail&plant_id=196

I would give anything to get pictures to show off lol I have a real collection going and would love to have some seeds to the Blue River II, I could send you some seeds to the Sweet Hibiscus and anyone else that wants seeds I'll be saving some this year from all of the ones that bloom :)

The Sweet Hibiscus needs to be grown in between other hibiscus, they aren't full like the other ones, for me anyway, they are just a stem with a few leaves not many but blooms all the way from top to bottom and nice big lemony blooms with a red center, I've had one for several years and this is the first time for it reseeding but this was a year for everthing reseeding we had so much rain in the winter:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1888/

I would love to have some tropicals but I have no light in the house to grow them in the winter they are so beautiful :(

Moby, I've often wondered if my Sweet Hibiscus is the Old Yella, the flowers look like Old yella because the flowers are completely round and you can see the cuts in the petals on the Sweet Hibiscus but the plant looks like the Sweet Hibiscus it's not full like they are showing on the Old Yella, does that make sense lol I'm really confused on this hibiscus so I just go with the Sweet Hibiscus because of the foliage lol

Look at the flowers on each one of them:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/40940/

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1888/

my 2nd blue river II has not produced pods yet, but I will gladly share at that time. My first plant had 4 pods and I gave all 4 to somebody that happened to be w/ me the day I noticed the pods. In the excitement I gave all the seeds to one person, had I been calmer, I would have shared the booty among more people. Oh well, I will be more careful with the 2nd plant. I know my buddy w/ whom I shared will grow them all for his garden and share w/ others when the time comes. I will let you know if/when my pods appear.

Blue River is something else.
Old Yella is outstanding

I love sharing seeds LOL

Susan, if you want seeds to any of the other ones just let me know I would love to share :)

LeBug, it's looks like they're very different plants ~ Sweet Hib is listed as hardy zones 8 - 11, and deciduous (loses it's leaves). Old Yella is hardy in zones 5 - 9 and is herbaceous (dies to the ground). You decide! :)

Sadly, Hamabo is one of those names that have been applied to several very different hardy hibiscus. The one I have has small yellow flowers with a red throat. The shrub is woody and the leaves are round and have a lot of substance. I got mine from Woodlanders.

Here is another called Hamabo which is a syriacus. I would love to find this one in the US. http://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=10725