hardy to 7b

i love hibiscus.what are the most hardy varieties? i live in maryville tenn. and i have a micro- climate that does well with semi- tropicals. we have been upgraded to 7b. i grow gardenias, cannas, yuccas, elephant ears,all kinds of things, and never lift anything. i want a tropical garden like charleston or savannah. any advice on hardy tropicals will be greatly appreciated. thanks, mick

littlemick, you've got mail!

Hi Mick

Tropical Hibiscus could never be planted in the ground where you are. It's too cold I'm afraid. Most folks around the country (myself included) keep them in pots as specimen plants for color around your large leafed hardy tropicals. They work really well as a potted plant and they give your lush tropical garden that exotic look.

Hope that helps

David

David...Is that Dragon's Breath?

You won't be able to grow tropical hibiscus unless you bring them in for the winter, but there are a couple species of hardy hibiscus that you could grow just fine: Hibiscus moscheutos, Hibiscus syriacus, and Hibiscus coccineus. There may be other species too but those three are fairly readily available.

Hey Gordo

Yes it's Dragon's Breath. Certainly one of the most beautiful of all the exotics in my opinion. Also one of the hardest to grow. I managed to keep one nice and healthy for almost ten years. It finally said good night for the last time over a nasty winter. Too bad it used to have sometimes up to 8 or so flowers all 8" across at the same time. Quite a specimen. Can you tell I miss it?

David

littlemick, I am a tropic challenged person too. I live just north of Nashville. If I ever move it will be South!

Thanks for posting the pic of Dragon's Breath. It is stunning. I have raised the hardy hibiscus but the ones I have had tend to get tall and floppy. Does anyone ever share cutting of their hibiscus? I would love to trade for a couple.
Teresa

Dragon's Breath is inspiring. It is worth any amount of effort it takes to have something that beautiful . I'll try a couple of hardy varieties in the ground, and pot the tropicals,, to winter over inside. i cut back a mandevilla in a pot and put it in a sunny room with cool temps. , watered it twice all winter, and it is getting new growth. thanks for the advice.

Hey Littlemick

Treat your hibs about the same way and you will be fine. I love Mandevilla myself.

I was given some seeds for (please escuse the spelling) Trionium, May Grande, and Manihot. I have been able to find info on the Manihot but not the other two. Of course the spelling may have a lot to do with it, but can anyone tell me anything about the other two. Are they tropical or hardy?

Here's H. trionum:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/711/index.html
I don't think it's hardy but I could be wrong

And here's an H. moscheutos cultivar 'Moy Grande'...could that be the one you have? It's hardy if that's it.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/40936/index.html

Hey Theresa, Our climates are probably pretty similar, with me a bit warmer. I am growing all kinds of tropicals that are not supposed to survive outdoors in the winter .I want a Charleston or Savannah garden and I'm gonna have one. This year I am concentrating on tropicals. Let me know what you are interested in and I'll let you know if I've had any luck. It really is surprising what you can leave in the ground. I have the biggest and oldest red oak tree in Blount County Tenn. right over my yard, so I just rake a big pile of leaves over everything, and forget about it till spring. The neighbors probably hate me, but the birds love me. I do want to try tropical hibs. in pots as accent plants. If I have any success this year I would be more than happy to share. That's half the fun. For that matter I am happy to share cuttings , tubers, seeds ect. of anything I already have. Let me know what you covet and hopefully I'll have it. I haven't gotten around to doing my plant file cause I don't know all the Latin names. David's photos are so beautiful, each more than the last. I could become obsessed. Last year it was tulips.Mick

Thanks Ecrane. Not sure if I want to plant the Trionum, but I'm glad I have the Moy Grande. I knew spelling was my problem. I'm going to try to do a couple of tropicals this year. Maybe if I keep reading I'll find the easiest ones to start off with. Wish me luck.

Robyn--next time you have things but you're not sure if they're spelled right, you can try searching for them in Plant Files anyway. I knew the correct spelling for H. trionum, but even if I hadn't, if you go into the Plant Files search and you type "trionium" in the species box, it will ask you if you meant trionum. And for your Moy Grande, I didn't know what that one was off the top of my head, but when I typed "May Grande" into the cultivar field in the search, it asked me if I meant May Grand or Moy Grande instead. Clicking on May Grand was a dead end, but when I clicked on Moy Grande it pulled up the H. moschuetos cultivar. If the spelling is way off this won't always work, but for things like this where you were just off by a letter or two it will often get you on the right track. (in both cases I put Hibiscus into the genus box since I knew you were looking for a Hibiscus)

I didn't know this, I'm still trying to figure out a lot of things on DG. Everyone is so good and very helpful. Thank you so much. I think I'm going to go play around with the plant files. (Especially now that I know being a couple of letters off won't matter).

We drove thru Maryville on our way to Townsend and on to Cades Cove. You live in a beautiful area. I lost my blk EEs and the upright ones I had. I dug them but only my green EEs can back up. I have a terrible time with cannas too. I keep my brugs in the crawl space of my house.

Do you know Nat? She host the Eastern TN RUs I think.

Hey Teresa, It is beautiful here. I used to manage a little bookstore in Townsend. I was just thinking today that I am going to have way too many cannas this year. They spread like crazy here if you leave them in the ground.I don't know Nat. Where does she live?