Hibiscus Moy Grande

Received this hibiscus from McFayden Seed Company with two little 1 inch sprouts, one developed and one didn't. The one that developed is now over 4.5 feet tall. The ad, shown below, indicates that it is hardy for my zone, but I don't believe anything that develops that much green wood will survive our winter. Does anyone have experience with this varity?

Ken

Hibiscus Moy Grande NEW FOR 2005

This new hibiscus delivers huge open rosy-red flowers. By huge we mean the largest of any hibiscus, with blooms that easily surpass one foot in diameter. Blooms from mid summer until frost. Hardy zones 4-9 Package of 1 plant

Along side of regular hibiscus on standard which spends the winter inside.

Close-up, makes it look almost as big as the ad said.

Have you come across this information? It explains a little about the parentage of your plant. I have no experience growing hardy hibiscus, but hopefully someone will come along from a little warmer zone to help you.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/cemap/hibiscusmoy/hibiscusp.html

It sure is a beauty. Would be such a shame to lose it over winter.

Yes I have come across similar info which again make me believe it might not be as hardy as McFayden's indicated.

Thanks

It did say zone 5 though. Not that I'd necessarily trust McFayden's on that.

I'm not entirely sure about details, but I've seen a few of these in my neighbourhood. Think my back fence neighbour has one. I'm not so sure that the above ground growth will survive, but the root system does and it comes back the next year, I think. I think I'll try one next spring in the new garden extension we've built.

Ann

Ken, I purchased mine from a grower and it seems to be doing ok..........Elaine

Elaine, Unfortunately we don't have the mild Vancouver winters here.

Ann, I have seen Rose of Sharon come up from the ground, but it makes it very late blooming. We have been very fortunate that the frost has been late this year as the hibiscus only started blooming into October.

It will probably spend the winter in my cold room with the rose standards this year as it is growing in a pot, next year I'm sure it will be too big as it nearly achived its full height in one season.

HI all:

I'm sure this is a really dumb question, but today I've come across two threads where people were talking about making a plant "standard".

Would someone mind furthering my garden education with a short explanation of this term's usage with regard to gardening?

Thanks . . .
~marilyn

Hi Marilyn

Standard here refers to training and pruning a normally bushy plant to grow into a tree.

Pam





Image courtesy of Horticulture, The Magazine of American Gardening, June-July 1995 v73 n6 p48(2)
Training a fuchsia standard. Sonny Garcia. (MJPL Infotrac)

This message was edited Oct 16, 2005 5:59 PM

cybercrone,
if you think that was a really dumb question, then you haven't read any of mine!

Thanks, Pam - that turned out to be simple enough, once you know.

And daylily, I'm sure glad there is another person on this list that is a relative beginner. There seems to be a whole huge difference between just 'growing flowers' which I have done all my life (in a very casual manner, I must admit) and being a gardener.
The people here seem to have all this 'gardening' education that I just don't have. But I'll learn and you'll learn and maybe then it won't all seem so puzzling.

~marilyn

Hey Marilyn,
This place is a wealth of useful information, and all lovingly passed on by patient helpful funny people.
I feel like anything I need to know, someone on DG has the answer, and then some answers to questions I haven't even thought of yet!
And pictures to make you drool, too.
Cheryl

Hi.

I have been growing a perennial hibiscus for 2 years now in zone 5a without any particular care or protection from winter. Each spring, it sprouts anew from the crown and reaches 3 to 4 feet with 6 to 8 inches flowers. This year, at one point, we counted 42 buds on the plant. The flower buds are about the size of a walnut. This picture was taken August 5th.

I leave it alone in fall and trim it back above the new growth in spring.

So don't worry about your perennial hibiscus. It will most likely survive anything winter can throw its way.

Sylvain

Ok - there's another question right there!

What is the difference between sping pruning and fall pruning? And why? And do different plants grow better with different methods?

Where I grew up, we just kind of ran the lawnmower over everything after the first frost. This doesn't seem to be the preferred method for Gardiners

HELP!!

some plants flower on old wood, and some on new, so if you prune at the wrong time, you can end up with no blooms for that year. we did this with a bridal wreath spirea, it went from loaded with flowers to about 2 the year after we pruned it.

Hi.

What's the difference between spring pruning and fall pruning?

A lot of ink has been spent on that topic and the arguments aren't over, to the point where one doesn't know what to do anymore. For one horticulturist that tells you to prune such a plant in the fall, you'll find another that tells you to do it in spring.

Such is human nature. Salmon is good for you one week but deadly the following week. The same thing applies for echinacea, vitamin E, red wine, etc. There are so many experts out there making a name for themselves, who knows what to do?

My grandfather told me that with fall pruning, you are telling the plant where it will be allowed to sprout anew next spring. With spring pruning, the plant does its own thing and you trim off the excess. That's the way I learned it and it works for me. When in doubt, let the plant do its thing and go with the flow.

Sylvain.