Question: types of hibiscus?

've been perusing eveyone's photos and am really impressed. I've noticed that most folks have the single petaled type of hibiscus as opposed to doubles. I have several of the single type which grow in an upright method and put out a lot of blossoms. The other type I have is doubles that tend to grow more wide than up and are stingy with blooms. Can someone give me more information on the different varieties and what type of conditions/fertilizer/etc. they prefer? I'd love to get the double/tree type of hib to bloom more cause they are stunning when they get going.
Many thanks!
Deb

Are you referring to tropical hybrid hibiscus or hardy hibiscus (the ones you can plant in the ground in Massachusetts)?

Hi - tropical - not hardy.
Thanks!

Hibiscus don't like a lot of phosphorus so make sure when you fertilize them that you're using something with a low middle number--definitely NOT the "bloom booster" type of fertilizers that you can use for other plants to make them bloom--those are high in phosphorus and work well on other types of plants but not on hibiscus.

Hi Deb,

The other thing to consider is that if you have a garden variety plant, you will tend to have more blooms than the 'exotic' hybrid hibiscus you often see posted on the forum. I'm not sure why that is other than the GV plants have been around a lot longer and maybe prolific blooming characteristics haven't bred out of them to support a characteristic that the breeder of a hybrid is trying to achieve like size, color or shape. BTW, welcome to the forum, hope to see some of your pictures posted when you have some.

d

Double bloom hibiscus can bloom just as much as a single variety Many double blooming ones are more prone to premature bud drop from just about any kind of stress (heat, cold, damp, dry, too much wind). The growing patterns of each hibiscus can vary also. Some are fast growers, some are slow, some grow more upright, some tend to sprawl, some branch well on their own, some need lots of pruning to shape them. I was just pruning some of mine this evening. Some had grown a foot taller in the last two months and some had only grown a few inches. Each one can be quite different from the next as they are all different genetically.
If you know any of the names of hibiscus that may help. Chances are there is somewhere here that has the very same variety and may have the same experiences with that variety.
Jon

what are you doing with that wood from your pruning, Jon. Want to share? :-)

From the wood I grafted about 5 of them on root stock about 10 days ago. I'm getting a bit frustrated because I don't think any of them are going to take. I watched some of the experts show us how to graft at the May hibiscus meeting so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I need to get this figured out first or else I'll just be wasting other peoples wood and root stock plants.