another hardy-

Can anyone id-thanks

How about 'Turn of the Century'?

http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=Z180

Thanks so much. Love this site. People are so nice.

You are just lucky to have blooms! Most of mine are sickly looking sticks that can barely support leaves let alone a bloom :-(

Very cool bloom. Like it much

guamsorbit, what is making your hibiscus sick-do you know? They love our heat and humidity. When we were going through that heat wave that lasted over two weeks with temps 105 +, the hardy hibiscus loved every minute of the heat and bloomed and bloomed during that time.I did supplement with water.

love that bloom!

I really like that one.. I sent my mother in law a Blue river hardy out to PA. I hope it blooms for her this season.

Blue River is such a gorgeous plant. Last year, when not in a drought, it was 6' tall and covered with pure white dinner plate size flowers. It was visible from the gate area and I kept finding people with their heads poked inside looking at it. I don't know how they can keep their shape in the heat. One of my favorite flowers.

Thanks for the info. You wouldnt' happen to know the pot size it would need to overwinter on the east coast. She is growing it on roof top garden.

I haven't a clue and I thought the hardies were the easier ones to grow. I bought and planted 4 large plants last year and they did great. I cut them back in the winter and this year only 3 have come back in varying degrees. One is growing like gangbusters and is just now setting buds, one is doing just ok - also just setting buds and the third only grew 2 stems and one of those died off. The fourth I think is dead in the ground. Then I have other smaller plants that really are sticks and barely have any life to them at all. I initially planted those in full sun but they were not happy so I potted them up and have them in part sun now. They have not recovered. Then I have some I grew from seed that are still small in pots. Some have leaves and some don't. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but if you could figure it out, that would be great!

dee

I'm clueless as well about the hardys Dee. I did plant two in the ground next to a koi pond by my shade house. They are growing great. I'm not sure if they will die off in the winter here as it rarely gets below 50 but I am more concerned with my mother in law actually getting a bloom and the right advice to give her. How cold was it when yours died off ?

Well, since they go dormant during the winter I didn't even know one died off until I realized it wasn't going to wake up and sprout. But if these guys can live in places where it snows, cold shouldn't be an issue should it? And since they are water plants (swamp mallow), overwatering shouldn't be an issue either, right? The rose tree has 2 hardy hibiscus on either side of it. As you can see the right side is doing ok, the left isn't. Both the dead plant and the one with one stem are on the same side.

Hmm, they don't sell hardy hibiscus, for the most part, down here in South Florida. They are listed as generally only through zone 9 (Zone 10 here). I've read quite a few articles that state they need some kind of winter dormancy. That doesn't mean they all won't make it, but probably a pretty good percentage will not.
Jon

Jon, winter dormancy as in they need freezing temps like peonies? They did go dormant and it was cold enough to freeze and kill some of my tropical hibiscus...go figure. Sigh...

It's hard to tell "across the board" as to how much dormancy they need. From variety to variety it may differ a bit. We don't have any freezes down here. I grow and get bearded iris to bloom out of zone here and they're supposed to need winter dormancy also. Not all of them bloom, but a good 75% have worked out well. The way I look at it is...if you like something give it your best shot and see what happens. You may not get 100% good results but it's up to each of us to decide what percentage of success makes us happy.
Jon

Beautiful flower. We don't have a lot of bad weather in the winter here & mine do great. 8a
One of my plants had as many as 13 buds on one stem. The colors on your flower is to die for..... just fantastic.

Judy

Judy, Thanks, I think the color has a lot to do with the trace elements. I grow brugmansia-one of my obsessions and have found that the intensity of color depends largely on the trace elements-calcium and magnesium seems to be real boasts in color. A person who had been growing and hybridizing brugmansia for a long time said she used cal mag fertilizer. Unfortunately, it is very expensive. As an alternative, I found a bag of which contains trace elements, which seems to give good results. Live in Mississippi and with our sandy soil everything leeches out so occasionally give some of elements when I fertilize.

Turn of the Century, i just got it this year after looking for about 2 years. I love the pinwheel effect, the flowers arent as big as some of the other hybrids but they are very nice regardless.

Beautiful plant and flowers.

Do y'all ever get seed? My red hardy made seed one time & I sent them to a friend in PA & she bought a plant like mine & didn't use the seed. Should have kept them & tried them myself. I bought plants & most of them have come back. And multiplied. They get morning sun & afternoon shade & drink a lot of water. Will look for some pictures but mine are nothing compared to y'alls. Just beautiful.

Judy

I don't think most of the hybrids will set their seed pods that will mature Judy. What quite a few people like to do is to cross pollinate some of their own hybrids to create a brand new potential variety. You take two varieties that have blooms on the same day. You brush the pollen off of one flower onto the stamen on the other. The bloom will fall off of the mother plant. You hope that a seed pod grows and swells over the next 6 to 8 weeks. When the pod falls off naturally you then look inside and see if you have any seeds that were produced that can be planted. Here is a photo from this evening of a 4 week old seedling from a successful cross pollination.
Jon

Thanks again, Jon.

Judy

Jon are you saying hardy hibiscus hybrids do not set seed? Or are you talking about tropicals?

I was referring to tropicals. I know very little about hardy hibiscus to be honest.

I've had many pods, particularly on older hybrids such as Southern Belle. Since it's a hybrid, a seedling won't come true to the parent but it doesn't mean that you won't come up with a perfectly love hibiscus.

Kopper King has never set a pod so I assume that it's sterile.

Jon that sounds pretty remarkable. First off, when the bloom falls off of mine, I look for seeds & there are none. So I need to save the bud drop & sit it somewhere for about 6 weeks & see if anything develops? Is that what you're saying to do? (I hate asking questions that seem so obvious but...I'm just not getting it yet...feeling a bit embarrassed right now.)

Many of the hybrids do not set seeds because the part of the flower (cup) that holds the flower does not stay on the plant long enough (6-8 weeks) to mature into a seed pod. If the "cup" portion falls off the plant prior to a seed pod forming and maturing you might as well throw it out. It isn't going to develop anymore once it is no longer attached to the plant. It all comes down to that part of the bloom staying attached to the plant long enough for a seed pod to fully develop.
Even when you cross pollinate hybrids it can take several attempts before you get a fully developed mature pod. I didn't get a seed pod from cross pollination until my fourth attempt. The first three seed pods fell off the plant before they fully developed.

This is what a developing pod looks like. As long as the 'cup' portion is green then there's still a chance but once it browns and falls off then it's no good.

oh, ok that helps! thanks.

With my hardy, my seed pd looks just like above, but then drys on the plant, splits and is loaded with seed. I have planted about twelve to see if I can get them to germinate. I did hear today in a d-mail you needs to soak the seeds in diluted hydrogen peroxide to condition the seed. I am just lurking trying to find out how to grow hardy from seed. How do you start a plant from a cutting? Thanks for your help.

I was at our local Lowes earlier this afternoon. They have a lot of hardy hibs for sale. Some really pretty maroon ones. I didn't pay attention to the price in that I wasn't buying.

Anne