Here are some blooms from this month here in Fort La-Di-Da (Fort Lauderdale) starting with Hibiscus "Space Oddity".
Feb 2009 Blooms From Fort Lauderdale, FL
Hibiscus "My Way"
Hibiscus "Dragonfly"
Hibiscus "Da Vinci"
Hibiscus "Fifth Dimension"
Hibiscus "Swamp Music"
Hibiscus "Pocahantas"
Hibiscus "Black Dragon"
Hibiscus "Rum Raisin"
Hibiscus "Misbehavin"
And lastly Hibiscus "Simple Pleasures"
Love your photos!! I especially love the Black Dragon pic. The dark burgandy-red color makes the hib look extra shiny. Lovely pic.
That is an outstanding photo of BD and the color bands on Space Oddity are unusually clear in that shot.
You must not have gotten the cold weather that the west coast of FL got. We got down to 29 here, for only one night thankfully, but my hibbies are still not happy.
Thanks. Yes, several of those photos were taken earlier this month when we had several very cold nights (cold for our standards). It was supposed to get down to 28-32 degrees for 2 nights so I brought every single potted plant into the garage for the 2 nights. It only did get down to 34 degrees, but I didn't want to take my chances.
Jon
Those are beautiful! I love the Swamp Music and Space Oddity.
Jon, those are incredible photos of some of the prettiest hibiscus I've seen, what kind of camera do you have that take such great photos, colors are so alive or are you a photographer who happens to love hibiscus like the rest of use.
Wilfred
WOW........thanks for sharing these fabulous photos.
Thanks everyone. You all keep me motivated to keep taking pictures when I get a chance. I've never had a camera until about a year ago when I purchased a Cannon PowerShot. I try to take most of the pictures early in the day when the blooms first open and have their most vivid colors. I find the colors come out best when the blooms are shaded from the sun and when the photos are taken "off center" (preferably slightly above) of the bloom. I hope this explanation makes some sense????
Jon
Stunning photos Jon! I especially like Swamp Music and Black Dragon. I'd love to be able to grow them all, but to do so I either have to move south or build a huge year-round greenhouse. :) Since neither of those are going to happen in the near future, I'm really enjoying all of the photos.
Would you consider adding them to the PlantFile entries so everyone that uses the database can enjoy them too?
Joan
Thanks Jon! Your PlantFile additions are much appreciated.
You could always grow one/some in a pot Joan and bring it inside in a sunny window for the winter. It may or may not bloom inside during the winter but you could keep it going until you can put it back outside in the late spring. My parents have been doing that for a couple of years with 4 Tropical Hibiscus plants that I gave them.
I added all these photos to the plant database, per your request.
Jon
I tried growing a Hibiscus in the house a few years ago, and about January I came home from work and some sort of bug had attacked it during the day and try as I might, I couldn't get rid of them and the plant finally died. :( I've not tried again, but I'm considering ordering some from the co-op that's going on.
I've been working with Charles Black, the hybridizer from Hidden Valley Hibiscus, and I've fallen in love with a few of his also.
When I was working on the Cajun Hibiscus I fell in love with Black Dragon and Swamp Music and thought I had to have them too. :) So you see, I could very easily become an addict if it wasn't for the extreme cold weather, lack of adequate growing space and conditions, and then there's the bug issue.
Thanks so much for your photos and additions to PlantFiles. The Hibiscus portion of the database is my main focus right now. I'd like to see it more complete than it is now.
Joan
Joan, I don't know about your zone but the whitefly is the enemy of the tropical hibiscus in our zone.
Malthion, here I use about once a month. I spray it but it is systemic I think.
Beautiful Jon!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Wow, Jon!!! Totally gorgeous photos!! Your colors on Space Oddity, and well all the others too, are so vibrant :-) It amazes me how you guys in Florida get this beautiful blooms in winter - I'm so jealous!
Keep 'em coming - seeing the blooms is inspiring :-)
karen
I googled Hidden Valley Hibiscus but I can't seem to navigate the site. When I click where I want to go, nothing happens. I keep getting that page with a zillion hibiscus on it. Is there some secret I don't know?
Here's a link to the main Hidden Valley Hibiscus site: http://www.exotic-hibiscus.com/
Here you can choose to look at the varieties either alphabetically or by color http://www.hiddenvalleynaturearts.com/acatalog/index.htm
Here's the link to Charles Black's hybridizations (not all of them are available from HVH, but there's other vendors that sell them, and not all have been released yet) http://www.hiddenvalleynaturearts.com/cbcultivars.htm If you click on the cultivar, it will take you to a page with more information and photos of it.
The store link doesn't seem to be working right now. Maybe they are updating it.
Thank you, Joan. I could really get excited about hibiscus.
Thanks Robert & Karen. I really look forward to the colors of the blooms during a cool period in winter. The added bonus is that most of the blooms stay open an extra day or two during the cool weather. Hibiscus "My Way", which is a relatively new cultivator in the collection, is a 4 day bloom if the weather stays below 75 degrees.
Jon
Hi Neighbor,
Very beautiful.
Hap
mine has seasonal disorder bought it for summer blooms on the deck and two year in a row it give me zero flowers all summer and then it starts to bloom for xmas till may
as you can see at that time we had about four feet of snow outside
I had to but the branches all back to bring it in last fall could not find enough room for a 7 foot span
it has been going nuts blooming for about four months now and still so many buds
This message was edited Feb 17, 2009 11:00 PM
would love seeds for any of the ones you posted they are so different and amazing
this is a close up of blooms on my tree
They won't come true from seed--you might still end up with something pretty but it won't look like the parent plant.
its ok I love to grow plants even if they are not the same they will still be pretty and colorful
I love the part about "seasonal disorder" LOL
Google the American Hibiscus Society; they have seeds from named crosses for individuals to try.
now does that work if I am not american lol I live in canada
Hmmmm, not sure about that. There is an interntional hibiscus society but I am not sure if they give away seeds.
Jon, those pictures are Out Of This World Beautiful. Im so sad, Im sure I lost nearly all my young fancy hibiscus that I got this past fall. We had wicked cold here, colder than its been since I moved here 10 years ago. But I will start over again with them, those pictures are so inspiring!
I'm not sure about the international hibiscus society but the Austrailian Hibiscus society seeds out seed upon request they in return only ask for a postal coupon to cover shipping which is only $2.85 Our seeds from the Austrailian society and the American Hibiscus society are already sprouting.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Am. Hib. Soc. would send seeds to Canada--seeds are much less problematic to send internationally than plants. I don't know for sure if they do but it would be worth asking.
Also, just in case anyone decides to wander over to Ebay in search of hibiscus seeds, be aware that there are some scam artists out there. Legitimate sellers of tropical hibiscus seeds will typically mention what the parent plants of the seeds were, and will make no claims about what the seeds will grow up to look like. The scam artists tend to have heavily photoshopped pictures of hibiscus flowers and make it sound like that's what your seeds will grow up to look like. First of all the flowers are photoshopped and don't even exist in real life, but even if they did they wouldn't come true from seed.