What a Find! " Little Boy Blue "

Is this hib true or is it falls, take a guess and let me know.

Wilfred

Now that is BLUE!

Is this one of yours? How great it would be.

Anne

Okay Wilfred--tell the truth now--that's a silk flower isn't it??? Wow is that blue!



Patty

Definitely not real. There aren't any hibiscus that are that close to true blue--even the bluest of them are still lavender or purple. Here's the page from the Int'l Hibiscus Society that has a picture of Little Boy Blue, you'll clearly see that the color is different. http://www.internationalhibiscussociety.org/SEArchive/index1.php?Search_box=Little%20Boy%20Blue

Liz got you Wilfred...busted :-)

I wish there was one that color though!

Charles Atiu, in the French Polynesia, is getting many hybrids in the nearest blue I've never seen
http://www.internationalhibiscussociety.org/SEArchive/SEindex1.php?search=%Atiu%&radiobutton=4

Picture attached is from him. I hope he doesn't mind that I send it to the forum. It's Moorea Dark Kiss, with true colors although not exactly true blue but very near.

Regards

Carlos

Charles have fantastic blooms!

That is pretty--definitely the best blue I've seen. The bluest one I have is Blue Ballerina.

WOW .. That is Blue.. I would have to see it in person to believe it though. I would have to see " Moorea Toaremona" to believe as well.

Dee your so right, Liz busted me good. LOL! I love you Liz, you caught me so darn fast. LOL!

Sorry Dee, Anne and Patty, just trying to show how a person can be tricked in buying hibs sometime from somebody else thru the net making them think they've made a fabulous find, and all it is a photo shop fix. I got fooled a couple of times myself when I was a newbie and hardly new anything about hibs, once I bidded on eBay for a gorgeous double blue hib and won, payed more than usual, received it, planted it and waited and waited for that beautiful double blue hib, finally a bud, so happy I was but notice the color was not quite the color it should be, so I waited, finally the big event, it opened and I got the most beautiful, biggest pink single flower I've seen, but that's not blue, nor is it double, being new to this I thought maybe it will turn blue as the day goes by and being the first bloom maybe that's why it came out a single. day keep passing by and still had hope for it to turn blue. Finally at the end of the day, surprise there it was, that beautiful gorgeous big single pink bloom, that's when I realized I've been had. That's when I got really piste off knowing I had pay so much to be taken as a fool and I almost thru the plant and all down the mountain, but even though it wasn't the beautiful blue I wanted so much, she sure was the prettiest of the pinks I had at that moment so I keep her. Never brought from that person ever again but still have the pink. It happened to me a few times before I learned that there were many people who changed the colors just to sell them, so if you see a hib on the net that you like and want to buy it, I recommend you post its info. on the forum before buying and I sure that some one as wonderful as Liz will advise you before you spend big pucks on it. Thanks Liz.

Carlos, I have to thank you for the site and info. you always have so much to offer us. love the site. BTW, is there any way anyone can get or purchase any of those hibs, there are some that are surly beautiful and would love to have to cross pollinate with. Olja I agree with you 100%

Liz, I have to ask, would you sell me a cutting of that beautiful real " Blue Ballerina ", I want one so bad, that's how I got fooled in the first place with the pink one, I ordered two different blue hibs and one died on arrival and the other is " Blue Cajun " and it doesn't set seed pod, would love to try another different blue one to cross pollinate, and like Jon said WOW! That is Blue.

Thank you all from my heart and please be careful on the net when buying from sources that are not recognized by anyone on the forum, last time I did I lost $500.00 to a so called nursery Happy-hollers, my whole budget I've been saving up for almost two years for hibs I really wanted. How more frustrating can it get.

Your Friend Wilfred

BTW, the hib that was colored enhanced is " Blue Cajun "

Here is the same one with a darker color enhancement using Photo fix.

Wilfred

" Blue Cajun "

your not the only one that got taken from Happy Holler there has been alot of people, they need to file a complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General, they need people to file claims against Happy Holler so they can do something with these people

Wilfred, that site http://www.internationalhibiscussociety.org/ is just a place to give all possible info about new tropical hibiscus. It has a mailing list that you can join to but it isn't a site that sells hibiscus.
I'm afraid that you - and me - cannot get those Charles Atiu's cvs by now as he only sells his plants in Moorea. A solution is moving to live in there. Maybe in the future those varieties reach to other parts of the world as the ones of the Tahitian serie is doing now, but who knows!.

Saludos

Carlos

If you ask for seeds from IHS they will send you some, we received some of
Charles Atiu's seeds from them, we have seedlings now that are 2 months old.

Hi Wilfred,

The comment I made was not about Liz's Blue Ballernia which is a great bloom but of " Moorea Dark Kiss". If it truly is that blue it would be on the top of any collectors want list.

I really love the Dark Kiss, Carlos. I'd like to get a hold of one of those & thanks much for the link? Who is this genius Charles? Obviously from the map a road trip is out, (duh) but honestly, is there any way to get a hold of these beauties? How does that work? I'm loving Tahitian Sophistication, Moorea Senior Charles & oh yes, Night Fire.

Ok then, so who lives closest to Charles, I'm thinking a small group order. LOL Olja perhaps you or Carlos maybe? Ooh what I would give to go visit & pick up a few hundred for everyone. ;-)

BTW Wilfred, beautiful blues & Liz I love your Ballerina! Blue, such a calming color, I'd love to get a hold of some of these.

rats, look like the road trip is definitely out. :-(

Charles live on islands in French polynesia,and me and Carlos we are at old continent Evropa,so we are wery far away from him,but if you join IHS who knows some seed may come to you to after some time :-)

thanks Olja, I just now joined. ;-) Thanks for the link, an awesome site I could really spend some time there.

I don't know debbie, a trip to the Tahitian Islands sounds like a pretty good idea to me :-)

Wilfred--I'm in a quarantine zone for the light brown apple moth, so I can't send plant material out of the area, and Blue Ballerina is still a tiny plant that came in a 4" pot so I'm not sure if I could get a good cutting from it yet anyway. Otherwise I'd be happy to send you one for postage. I got it from Hidden Valley Hibiscus--they're out of stock right now but they'll probably get it back in again so keep your eye out on their website. It is very pretty, although not nearly as nice of a blue as Moorea Dark Kiss--I hope that one becomes available over here at some point!

Thanks Liz, are those brown apple moth bad for your hibs Liz, hope not. Hidden Valley was the first place I saw Blue Ballerina but when I checked it again to get one they were out of stock, so I was hoping your was big enough but I see it will be quit a while before that happen, thanks anyway Liz, appreciate your reply.

Wilfred

p.s. if those moth are bad for hib, I really hope they don't get to yours.

Hey Liz,

Is the other side of the bay under the same quarantine restriction as you are? Yikes!

d

They are beautiful pictures of these blue hibiscus but I thought it was probably a joke. Everyone has been trying to create a true blue one. When you look at all the blue ones he's trying to register with the International Hibiscus Society a red light should go off. It has taken this long and there still isn't a real true blue one out there. How would some person then all of a sudden create a dozen cultivators that are that blue. The only other thing that crossed my mind was whether it would be possible to turn a bloom blue with the use of chemicals or supplements. Afterall you can add aluminum sulfate to the soil around a hydrangea and turn it from pink to blue.
Jon

No, the apple moths don't hurt hibiscus (at least not that I know of...and I've never seen one on my property anyway). But the agricultural industry is freaked out about the moths and is trying to keep them from spreading, so I've been under quarantine for a couple years now. It's not the whole Bay Area, only parts of it (and parts of other places in CA too). Here's a link to the quarantine maps if you want to check Emerald Hills http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/pdep/lbam/quarantine.html#qmaps

Jon--unfortunately you can't turn hibbies blue like you can with hydrangeas. I suspect that this person has focused a lot of efforts on getting the bluest possible hibiscus, and it's very possible as he gets close and closer and gets better and better crosses that he could end up getting several of them at once. We just never saw the 20 or so generations of purplish and pinkish ones that he had to work his way through first to get to blue. I'd still like to see them in person since the lighting in a photo can definitely make things look bluer than they really are even if you don't Photoshop anything, but it could very well be for real.

thanks, Liz. Looks like it is west of me. Whew

I didn't think you could turn hibiscus blue, but one hybridizer down here told me you can alter the bloom color slightly with the use of supplements. I'd like to see these blue blooms in person also. It would be more believable to me if he had possibly created one blue cultivator. Everyone is so focused right now on trying to create a true blue one. Obviously its a difficult challenge. I'm just very skeptical because he shows pictures of about 20 different blue ones all at once. I hope he proves me wrong.

hey Liz, I just read something about potassium nitrate maybe altering a T. Hibs color. What can you share about that being a possibility?

I have never read that anywhere, but I haven't gone looking for info like that either. Personally I'm a bit skeptical, potassium nitrate is basically just a source of nitrogen and potassium and you'd get those from whatever fertilizer you're using. So if potassium nitrate truly would alter the color then I would expect that most fertilizers ought to have a similar effect and I have never observed any difference in flower color based on how recently I fertilized. If your plants are badly in need of fertilizing and the blooms are not looking their best as a result then it might make a difference but so would any other fertilizer with decent N & K content. And since too much nitrogen can burn a plant's roots I'd be careful trying something like that in addition to your regular fertilizer.