Hibiscus the first year

Hey everyone,

I was planning on ordering Hibiscus moscheutos hybrids (plain red,white and pink mix) shipped as bareroot plants. Would they bloom the first year?


Thanks,
Danielle

Unless you guys have a warmer than usual Oct, I would kinda doubt it. But planting now would likely result in a very well established plant by next spring and those babies would bloom like crazy next year.

Danielle I sowed Hibiscus moscheutos 'Disco Bell' from seed in March. It got planted out late, so blooming is late. It has plenty of buds. Unfortunately, we had some hail 2 days ago which will delay blooming. Hopefully it will bloom before frost. I'm dying to see what color since the seeds were a mix.

As bareroot plants where you live, they may bloom if your season is long enough. I live in zone 4, so not familiar with your climate. From what I understand they bloom longer down south. I certainly would buy them.

H. moscheutos are rated as hardy to zone 5. I have another that I sowed 3 years ago that is blooming now. It didn't bloom before since too much shade. But it is hardy for my zone. I tranplanted it to where it gets more sun. The flower measures 7" across. I love it! Height 2 ft and bushy.

Edited to add that the photo was taken Sept 17, 09. This is my 3-year-old plant.

This message was edited Sep 24, 2009 12:51 AM

That picture is beautiful!!!

I was going to order them bareroot, but have decided to try from seed. I saw the Disco Belle varities in the seed magazine, but was going to go with the Southern Belle mix as they said they would bloom the first year. Where do you order your seeds from?

I'm looking forward to having some hibiscus plants. I have a Texas Lonestar Hibiscus plant already, but it just doesnt bloom that much. It blooms later in the summer, and the blooms only last for a day. I still only had 2 blooms so far.

Thanks,
Danielle

Hi Danielle: I order all my seeds from Geo. W. Parks Seed co.They also sell plants. I get their catalogs every year. They have several Hibiscus seeds, including Southern Belle. If I remember correctly that one is taller than Disco Bell.

That may be what I'm waiting blooms from. I had 2 pkg of seeds, one of each. I accidently mixed them up when I returned to the pkg what I wasn't using. The one I'm waiting for blooms from is taller than Disco Belle. That is the one I started from seed in March. It is full of buds dispite the hail and about to open.

I would sow from seed since I think the plants are expensive to buy. They grow fast.

Here is the link:

www.parkseed. com

Lilly

Lilly,

Parks is the catalogue that I have. I was hesitant to order from them as on the Garden Watchdog part of the site everyone seemed to have really negative things to say about them. I still was looking at ordering from them as they have a greater variety than say Burpee. I was just thrown off by everyone's comments on them taking their money without sending them any seeds, and then having to report Parks to the Better Business Bureau.

Have you had any problems with them?

I will try both packets of hibiscus to make sure that I, hopefully, get blooms the first year. Southern Belle is a taller variety I think up to four feet where the other is 2-3 feet tall.

Danielle

Danielle: No, I have never had any problems with them. Also if a package of seeds don't sprout, they will replace them. Likewise plants.

I don't know why the negative comments they received. I have ordered from them, both plants and seeds since the 80's. I also ordered seeds of Buddleia this spring along with Penstemon 'Esprit mix'. The Penstemon came within 2 weeks. The Buddleia came too late for me to sow this spring. Many of their seeds are imported and they sometimes run out of stock so takes longer to receive. Just order early. I will start the Buddleia spring of 2010.

While you are there, check out Penstemon 'Esprit' mix. It is awesome. I got I think all the colors that came in the package. The flowers are huge for a Penstemon and more balloon-like. I sowed in March and they bloomed starting last week in July. Bloomed all August and just now slowing down.

Ignore the neg comments and order without worry. I wouldn't hesitate to order again from them. They sell quality seeds and you get what you order.

I don't know if you are interested in them but here are some photos to whet your appetite. The first one is red with white inside.

Another color

Still another

Another

The last one

And here is my 3-year old Hibiscus plant the day before we got hail.

Photo taken September 17, 09

I purchased Disco Bell because of its shorter height. Yes, it grows 2 ft in my zone 4. I don't have much space for bushy plants since much of my garden space is planted to Irises and others. I have reserved a spot for Buddleis. I'm still waiting for the buds of the Hibiscus I sowed this spring to open. I can see a light pink on the outside of the buds. I would be happy for one flower to open so I can get a photo. It is full of buds but don't know how much damage the hail did to the buds. I will post a photo when and if it opens before a hard freeze. We had one but I covered the plants, then we got the hail day after. Darn!!

Lilly

Hi Addicted, I agree about ordering seeds at this time of the year, seedlings you may lose. You may want to check out the Watchdog 30 list of vendors for seeds & other plants. Look under the "Guides and Information" tab & then click on the Garden Watchdog (I think), just in case you're not aware of it yet. Some great seed companies are listed there like Select Seeds, Onalees, Garden Crossings and more, having top notch operations. Good luck!

Lilly,

I was going to order the Penstemon Espirit mix lol. I was looking up a red penstemon plant and it had smaller flowers. I typed in Penstemon in the seed catalogues online, and the Espirit mix came up. It looks way better than the plant I was going to order. The variety Espirit is nice with the bigger flowers, and color. Plus you cant beat the price of seeds vs a plant. If I see a plant I like and want to order if it says self sows then I usually figure I can grow it from seeds easily.

Davis,
"Hi Addicted, I agree about ordering seeds at this time of the year, seedlings you may lose. " Is there something wrong with ordering seeds now? I'm not planting them now. I will be WS in Dec. or later.

Thanks for the info...I know about Garden Watchdog and usually check out every company in there. Its just that most of the smaller companies dont offer the variety in all the plants. I just dont want to have to order from 5-6 different companies. The larger "chain" brand seed companies have a bigger catalogue. There is a smaller seed company that I will be ordering petunia seeds from as they DO have a better variety.

According to Garden Watchdog, which is a great tool, nobody really likes Spring Hill/MI Bulb/Brecks either. I order from all 3 companies, and love my plants/bulbs. They grow well, and I have recieved excellent customer service.

I use PlantFiles all the time too. I just ordered 28 TB Irises from Schreiner's and used PlantFiles to doublecheck all the info and pics on the varities I was looking at.

It's all great info to have at your fingertips!

Thanks,
Danielle

I agree it's definitely worth the price of admission. No, I didn't mean don't order seeds now, just not the seedlings, sounds like you're right on top of things anyway. Good to meet you Danielle!

Oh, I was just confused. Definetly worth the price of admission....

Another good heirloom seed to plant is balsam. I planted it from seed it didnt look much like the foliage on the packet, but boy did it bloom. It had bright shades of pink and purple blooms and bloomed for ever. It was still blooming but it rained for 5-6 days straight here, and the rain just beat it down. I planted in April/May, it grew fast, and was still blooming at the end of Sept. I direct sowed it too. This year I think I will plant a low 8" or so plant in front of it too hide the stem where no blooms are.


Danielle

Danielle Penstemon Esprit mix is a great variety to WS. The seeds are more difficult to germinate than the common Penstemon. Require cold treatment. I sowed mine in a flat with seeding mix and left the flat out in my unheated garage over winter. The seeds are small. I didn't use up all the seeds and got 12 seedlings. Gave 6 to my daughter and kept the rest. Hope to divide them next spring. Each plant produced several stems this first year.

Have anyone heard of propagating Penstemon from cuttings? Seems I remember reading about it on Daves. At the time I wasn't interested so didn't really read it. Now I can't find the info.

PS Think I will put in a good word for Parks on Garden Watchdog.

Lilly

Danielle:
I wanted to know what the Latin name of the 'Esprit' mix was. Googled it and found it since Parks didn't mention it. It is P. grandiflora 'Esprit'. It is native to the Great Plains.

Some are still blooming. Have gone through frost and cold weather without any problem. Mine are setting seeds. Will collect for the fun of it and see what comes out of those seeds.

Lilly

Well darn it all! We had cold, no freezing weather. The cover over the Hibiscus helped---that time. Then we had 10 degrees one night and that finished the Hibiscus altoghether. I never got to see that one bloom. The cold prevented the opening of the bud. Now we had 1 ft of snow until yesterday. Needless to say garden season is over for this year in my zone 4

Lilly

Flower,

I live by a marsh where the hib you are wanting grows wild. I drove by
there the other day & there are thousands of pods. I could send as many
seeds as you want.

I too had a horrid experience with Park Seed and will never, ever
purchase from them again. Spent over $50 for seed and nothing-
literally nothing from them grew. Everything I purchased from other
companies came up just fine in the same beds.