Blooms for 8-22-07

Well I'm running late for work but here are the openers for today ...

This is one of my freshly obtained Schizo cuttings in bloom inside our home this morning ... not fully open yet.

Another closeup Schizo collage ...

Cairo Peach hidden among the leaves.

This plant is still recovering from the shock I gave it when I overconentrated my Neem Oil / Soap / Water pesticide. But it's recovering well. I think it will look better next year. I guess the best way to learn is from experience, right? ;)

Red Hibscus ... not 100% sure on the name but it's a common variety

the third one is called "Brilliant" an old hybrid but a great grower and bloomer!

Kyle :-)

Aha! I've got it now!! Thanks! And you're right - I get about 10 or so blooms per 3.5 ft. tall shrub a day. :)

Nice pictures. No new pictures here today. It was a hot one and now we are down to 71. Rain fell a while ago, washing off the plants. Maybe they will give me some new blooms tomorrow.

Glad you had some rain, Brugie. Hopefully we'll get a little this weekend as a result of the hurricane passing through the gulf.

I don't have too many myself today. Gator Pride was sure pretty this morning though, even though not quite open.

Erin Rachael had five blooms just like this one.

A new Electric Blue.

Voodoo Magic is always the last to open up.

Belle de Jour.

Mango Tango thought she'd get front waterfall seat today.

Karen,
Erin looks quite gorgeous.

Here are my babies:

Hurricane Lily

peach double.

good ole faithful Montserrat. With one difference: since I used the bayer tree and shrub, all my hibs look really, really healthy. Lost one Voodoo Magic, but she was dying way before the treatment.

Cinnamon Girl had four just like this one today.

Double red. If you notice, my doubles look alot healthier. Granted, only one bush is healthy from the swamp, but the others are trying to make a comback.

Cinnamon Girl looks Stunning! I really want one. OK, here's the double red:

Hey Cat, I think we're posting at the same time. I really like your Montserrat again. The browns seem to last the longest for me here. I like Hurricane Lily too.

My last one today is a new Tangerine Dream - she has a good color combo this time :-)

Karen,
Tangerine Dream is absolutely dreamy! Gorgeous!!!!

Here is one hawaiin salmon

second hawain salmon

fifth dimension opening up

and last, but not least, Wahini

More great pictures. I love that Hawaiian Salmon and Wahini, Cat.
Karen, I'm sure glad your got more orange in Tangerine Dream's bloom. Looks great.

I love Hawaiian Salmon...must find myself one! (And I had just promised myself I wasn't going to buy any more hibbies this year!)

well now, that's nearly impossible!
I bought mine from Winn at www.fancyhibiscus.com
It was one of my first original 5.
Beware.....she is a very fast grower. Grew 4 feet since March.

Ooh, aah! Amanda, can you give me more info about that Schizo? I don't even have any Hibiscus yet, but that one is incredibly stunning!! I'd love to know more about it.

I really like that 5th Dimension picture. Even though the flower isn't open all the way, the colors really pop!

Brugie - I wish we had 71 degree temps! GEEZ! I'm jealous!!

Karen - I love the Gator Pride pic, even though it's not fully open! I think that's what I love about it!! It's like ... watching a little baby starting to open her eyes in the morning, just before she looks up at you and smiles to know you're there. :) I know, I'm weird. Can you tell I'm a mom? ;) (Same comment about Voodoo Magic)

Cat - I love your 5th Dimension! I wish my Peach double would start blooming again. Grrr ... But i like your Hawaiian Salmon! It kinda has a Schizo flare to it, don't you think? Pretty, pretty!!

digigirl - I'm trying to root a Schizo cutting right now, so if it takes, I'll mail it to you! I'll let you know if/when it does take and then you can send me your mailing addy. You're so close to me so it's not a big deal. The Schizo is breathtaking. The flowers are about 3-4 inches in diameter when they are fully stretched out because the leaves curl backwards completely to form a ball with the stamile (?) hanging down long and curling back a tad at the tip. (See the attached pic of one of my Schizo blooms fully open from another day.)

I'm new to growing Schizo so I can't tell you much about them except from my own experience this far. My plants arrived at about 2-3 ft. tall each and these tend to grow limbs off of one main erect stem so a lot of people will train them to grow like trees. I've been told they can grow 10-12 feet tall, but mine are both only at about 3 1/2 feet tall now so ... we'll see. In these HOT days we've been having, I've still been getting about 3-5 blooms per day on each plant, and there aren't many limbs on mine because I've been trying to train them to grow like trees, also (not sure if I'll stick with that). They have a natural leaning habit so that the blooms will hang off of the plant like lanterns (another nickname for them is Japanese Lanterns), so I've staked mine in the ground to provide some support to the main branch. This seemed to REALLY help with the growth of the plant and the amount of daily blooms. I planted mine in this yucky clay soil with a little bit of regular plain Miracle Grow soil in with it. In this, I mixed in a little of this granular fertilizer that I bought from WalMart for about $5. It's in a pink bottle with a yellow lid, not especially for hibiscus, just for flowering shrubs. Then I covered the base in about 2-3 inches of mulch. Before staking it in the ground, the plant would frequently lean to the point where it would fall over after a few days. But not anymore. I do think it may like some shade as it's growing tendacies are putting a little more new growth in the shady area, but mine are only under a tad bit of shade for about an hour a day and are doing fine.

Here's the PF information on them: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/790/ (although from what I've read, the height information there is wrong and mine are already taller than 36 inches and aren't very old).

So would you like a cutting if I can get one to take root?

This message was edited Aug 23, 2007 12:27 PM

This message was edited Aug 23, 2007 12:30 PM

Amanda, yes!! That would be awesome. Do let me know and I'll send you postage. Those are so gorgeous. Thank you very much for all the info and it's great to see you aren't that far away. Gives me hope that I could keep it alive! Keeping my fingers crossed....

Ha ha, it's not very hard to keep hibiscus going - you'll do fine! I've read that cuttings take 4-8 weeks to root so hopefully it won't be very long. I just took these cuttings a few days ago. Will let you know as soon as I see some results!

That schizo flower is SO pretty.....