Hibiscus: Replanting Hibiscus Rose, 1 by Saje

Saje wrote:
I'm somewhat new to tropical hibiscus. I've got 5 so far. I've had this one for about a year now and it's literally crawling out of its pot. While I understand that rootbound is good for these plants, I felt I just had to transplant it as there was nothing but roots left in the pot. I transplanted another in the same situation earlier this year. The other 3 are coming up for transplant in the new year. All are doing very well, except for one. I was away for a while and the person taking care of my plants forgot to water it for a couple of days. It was pretty dry when I got home. It has lost most of its leaves. Only has a few in the crowns of its branches. What are the survival chances?

One thing I've noticed - a couple of them have masses of these tiny leaves growing with the normal sized leaves along the stems. What's up with that? I'm on the West Coast of Canada. Our year started out cold and wet, summer didn't start until August 1st and has hung on. Yesterday was still 23C and it's only drizzled a couple times since July. They've been on a south-facing deck since start of summer. When it started to get hot and dry I watered them every day, sometimes twice a day because it was so hot. I fertilized with a 1/4 strength feed every other feeding because they were getting so much water. They would literally wilt in their pots but I had no other place to put them. Now I'm bringing them in at night because it's starting to get too cold already and putting them out in the day. They are still flowering, but their leaves are starting to turn yellow, which of course is normal from the stress. But I don't know about those little leaves. Any ideas? And do you prune tropical hibiscus at all? And if so, when? And where?