Hibiscus: when to cut back hardy's, 0 by Michael_Ronayne

Michael_Ronayne wrote:
One of the authors, which I referenced previously Harry Bischoff Weiss, also wrote a 1919 pamphlet for the State of New Jersey Department of Agriculture, on the insect enemies of Hibiscus moscheutos. As this a government published document it is not pay-walled and anyone can down load the PDF which I would recommend you do. Google did not include OCR Text with the PDF so you will have to use their interface if you want to search the book.

The More Important Insect Enemies of the Rose-Mallow in New Jersey
Harry Bischoff Weiss, January 1919
State of New Jersey Department of Agriculture, Alva Agee Secretary, Bureau of Statistics and Inspection, Circular Number 25, Trenton, NJ
http://books.google.com/books?id=Q-UoAAAAYAAJ

The pamphlet contains the same warning about infected Hibiscus stalks as the paper. Several of the insect pests which have been discussed in DG are referenced in the pamphlet. I have still not located the correct reference to buprestid beetle Rhaeboscelis tenuis but I may have observed the damage from it during my trips to work each summer. In Northern Bergen County NJ there is a beautiful red Hibiscus moscheutos, with typical moscheutos leaves, which is stripped every summer by insects. The Hibiscus always recovers but it has been producing fewer flowers each summer. I have been tempted to stop and talk to the home owner but I don’t know if I would be welcomed.

What is really interesting about the pamphlet is that there was sufficient Hibiscus horticulture in New Jersey in 1919 to justify its publication by the State. From my research, the common practice was to collect interesting wild Hibiscus along the New Jersey shore and then propagate the plants for the trade while being on the lookout for chance mutations or sports. The Hibiscus Nursery which is pictured in the pamphlet, and attached to this post, is the same one which is shown in the paper, where the nursery location is identified as Rutherford, New Jersey. From the slope of the land I have a good idea as to the general location of the nursery. The photograph in the paper was taken from a different angle and two houses are shown. Both photographs were taken looking uphill and if I am correct about the location, at the bottom of the hill would be the New Jersey Meadowlands and a clear view of New York City 8 miles to the East; but, in 1919 there would be no skyscrapers and the buildings would have been obscured by the Palisades Escarpment.

Mike