I planted this hibiscus in the spring of 2006. I had to move it this past spring to its present location which gets full sun. After an intial shock, it bounced back and is producing quite a few buds; but none of the buds open all the way. As you can see by the photo, it's starting to wilt before fully opening. What gives?
Hi shebs, I'm a newbie to hibiscus myself I so I'm afraid I don't know the answer either. But I didn't want you to feel ignored, LOL. Perhaps you could try a differrent board? Maybe someone on the perennial board might have an idea? Good luck!
This is the right place, someone here should know. I've had tropical hibiscus that don't open fully when the weather's a bit on the cool side, I don't know if something similar would happen with the hardy hibiscus too. But looking at your flower, I'm not sure it's just that the bud's not opening fully, it looks like the petals at the top are curled up weird so I wonder if it's some sort of insect. Again my experience is all with the tropical hibiscus, but there are a couple types of insects that can get into the buds, often they cause the buds to drop but maybe with this plant it's not making the buds drop off but causes the flowers to be deformed.
Try looking very early in the morning when it first opens. You might see it then. Otherwise, this is the way mine are that have been grown from seed. They aren't wide open dinner plates like the named cultivars are. There is nothing wrong with it. The flower collapses in on itself as it ages and drops. However, you might try giving it a dowse of water as it is a swamp mallow. Perhaps they will stay open longer if they are deeply moist.
This message was edited Aug 7, 2007 1:21 PM
Thanks everyone for all your input.
Ecrane, I don't think the flowers are deformed (I don't see any bugs). I think the photo is misleading. The flower is starting to close and wilt. It didn't look like that earlier, nor have any of the other blossoms looked deformed.
Loretta, I purchased them as root stock from a grocery chain here in Chgo. The packaging said "hardy hibiscus". There were originally 3; one didn't survive, one hasn't opened its buds yet, and then there is this one. I'm really not knowledgeable with this type of flower, so I don't know the difference between swamp mallow, hardy hibiscus and tropical hibiscus. I'm assuming tropical hibiscus would not survive in my zone 5 climate.
Anyway, my previous apt. had this type and they stayed opened all day. I'm thinking that water might be a factor. We're starting to get some rain now, so I'll see if that makes a difference.
Hibiscus moscheutos - you'll find variations out there.
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/swamp_rose_mallow.htm
Loretta, thanks for the link. It had some interesting information. I noticed from the photos that the blossoms weren't all the way open. I guess that's how the flower normally behaves, so apparently there's nothing wrong with mine.
