Blooms for 9-27-2007

I'm with you Amanda. In the 70's, I'm in jeans and long sleeves. In the 60's, I am freezing my patooties off and wearing sweatshirts, sweaters and coats!
And thank goodness for Starbucks. What a life saver;

Ha ha, great Cat! Makes me feel better to know there's someone else out there who does this!! :) (Yes, Starbucks is a life saver - I think I keep them open over here, ha!)

Gosh, I still wear shorts until it gets into the 50's. I'd die in sweats and jackets. Right now it is a perfect 79 if you aren't working. It's too hot to work hard in these temps, for me anyway. I love early spring and fall for the cool temps. I like it warm in the summer for the flowers.

Aww Brugie - you're making me dream of your climate!!

WOWZIE WOO! LOOK AT ALL THOSE BLOOMS! Gorgeous Everyone! I can't pick a favorite but Kyle gets the blue ribbon from me today, that kokio waimae is breath taking, unique and 4 blooms! How long do they last? Welcome plantladylin, I'm Bonnie and I'm addicted to hibiscus. I have a proposal....You move into my house, you can over-winter your new hibs in the basement. I'll move into your house and plant mine and so many new ones, there will be no grass left to mow... k? lol I'm with Brugie, 60 and working outside is t-shirt weather up here. I'm loving it right now, I told DD this morning as we were having coffee outside that it could stay like this at LEAST until Thanksgiving and everything would just keep on blooming!

the kokio white (waimae) lasts just one day each, but every day has up to 6 flowers per stem on the tops.

Wow, it's really a producer! I just drool when I see your pics of it.

Well - my little one tapped on the Magic Moments bud and she fell off. Grrrrr ... I'm super antsy for blooms from this one!

You know, Amanda, my most recent bloom is on its third day, and it's gotten even prettier day by day, with more purple and white showing near the center....You're gonna love it :-)

Well, Karen.... pic??? 3 days! That's the kind I like, too, as well as the 1 and 2 dayers...

Yes, Amanda. Our weather has cooled considerably. I couldn't believe that on the third morning the bloom was still lovely. I did take a picture, but probably won't be able to upload it (or any of my weekend pictures, although I've got lots!) until tomorrow evening.

Hey Amanda, here's the third day picture of Magic Moments :-)

That is really pretty...why don't I have that one yet? LOL

Liz, you absolutely NEED Magic Moments, lol ;-)

I really should wait until next year--I've already placed 2 "last hibiscus order of the year" orders already (first from David when I found out he was closing, then from HVH when I found they had a 2 gal Magnifique), and the 3rd one is coming soon as soon as Matt lets me know if he has the ones I want. So this really does need to be the end, I'm not even sure if I'll be able to fit everything I have now into the greenhouse!

Sounds like a plan, Liz. But what's one more? It's only one. ;)

No problem Liz, just send the extras to me. :-))))

I'll keep that in mind if I run out of room! LOL I'm confident I'll find room to squeeze them all in. And if I run out of space, they are generally hardy in my area so I'll take my least favorites and put them on my back patio instead, and bring them in the house if we're going to have a really cold night. I just keep them in the greenhouse because they come to life so much quicker in the spring when I keep them warmer during the winter.

I wish I had a greenhouse :-( I'm still "negotiating" with DH as to whether I can have a pop-up greenhouse for the patio, or if I have to take them all inside (which means upstairs, DOH!)...

Oh my goodness girl! You're killing me! That is stunning! Mine just lost its second bud today. Nothing else in sight. What's the deal? Nothing touched it but the bud was breaking off. No sign of thrips. ??

OH! Sorry Amanda, that almost makes me want to cry. All that anticipation..... is it picky about watering/temps? That's so frustrating. My Nanette Peach from Mark is pe-oed at me for some reason, she's loosing some leaves.... she's sitting inside in front of my south French doors with all the rest of the "new borns" - they're behaving, had a bloom on Cherry Cola.... I'm sure she'll be okay, but it just looks like I don't love her. What else could it be to cause the buds/almost blooms to fall off like that?

You know, I talked to Cindy at HVH about a problem I'm having with The Color Purple where the flowers never open all the way. She said they never have that happen, and that I should treat for thrips even if I don't see anything. Cindy said there was one plant in their personal collection that Charles swore didn't have them, but sure enough it did. I picked up some Ortho Systemic to use this coming weekend and see if that clears up the problem. Cindy said that even if there aren't any thrips, it won't hurt the plant. The Color Purple is the only cultivar that has this problem, but it isn't too close to my other plants, as it's planted in-ground.

Might be worth a try??

Another thing, I had a lot of bud loss on Love Story when I first planted it. It seems that the plant just took a little longer to establish roots and growth than some others - it's fine now - so maybe not thrips? maybe it's just a matter of time. At least in So Cal, Magic Moments doesn't seem like a fussy cultivar, but maybe it's different in Texas...Time for Magic STILL has a lot of bud loss, but I've discovered that this cultivar is just super fussy about climate.

karen

Hey Karen,

Treat them all when you do it. Save yourself the trouble later. Also treat once a week for 4 weeks and then you should have things under control.

That's what I was thinking - I'll treat them all at once just in case. I ordered my Bug Blaster a while ago, but still haven't received it. I'm hoping to get it before the weekend, so I can just have a little "bug be gone" weekend, lol ;-) With the weather change, I've had the aphids come back with a vengence too, grrrr (hate those little suckers!).

One more weird question - I've got some funky thick cottony web stuff beginning to cover one of my Rum Runners, but no spider visible. Actually, I should say that I saw it the last few days and it's been SLOWLY growing. Today, I went outside and blasted it with the waterhose at full speed on the nozzle and that seemed to get rid of it. The only thing I don't like about doing that to my hibs is that it knocks off buds. BUT I do like that it gets rid of stuff easily.

Ya gots to be careful with that nozzle, Amanda. "funky thick cottony web stuff" - like spider mite or a bigger kind of spider, spider web?

Mealy bugs? Cottony cushion scale? Other cottony looking scales?

Ugh sorry - I'll see if it's returned tomorrow morning and take a pic if it has. I know, it's hard to determine what it is without seeing a pic.

I just got through making a couple new flowerbeds in my already crowded tiny yard for some new hibbies. Hope to get some nice blooms soon! :)

BTW - AuntB - doing this has given me the courage to do the Philo ALL on my own!! ;)

Ah, Amanda, just let him see you starting to do it, he'll help. I'm not trying to instigate a domestic squabble. It's pretty big, don't hurt yourself! Remember to save room for all the hibs you'll be getting next spring! lol

Ha ha - NOOOOO, AuntB - there's no domestic squabble. I've got to teach him to let me mess with the flowerbeds and he can stick to the grass. If we can work that out, we'll be good! :) Besides, I've got a few new hibbies to put in the ground and no flowerbeds for them. :) So I'm thinking when I create this flowerbed in the front yard for my Philo (that truly is just way to much in the Brug bed), I can put some new hibbies there and it will look spectacular. :) And he will LIKE it!! Ha ha

(Only problem - I can't seem to find anymore cedar mulch! Everyone's out!!! Grrrrr...)

I can't find a 9/28 thread ... so here are 2 cool pics of one of my Schizo's that morning (I'm procrastinating)

And here's an unopened Belize Breeze

Cool pics, Amanda - I really like the "fog effect" :-)

Here's what I found on my Rum Runner this morning - the thick, cottony web-looking stuff was probably created by this little guy, I bet he just wasn't home when I hurricained his new address. :)

Ha ha, thanks, Karen! Didn't cost me a dime for that effect ... only a tad bit of frustration because after a few minutes, it's impossible to take pics. :)

What is it?

I don't really know - It was moving around like one of those jumping spiders but I couldn't get a better pic because of the humidity! I'll look around for him again this evening ...

Made me think of a beetle. I couldn't see him very good. I hope he's gone with his little bug suitcase, and cotton gin too!

LOL! Suitcase, cotton gin! Yeah, me too!! I didn't see him today ... crossing fingers. He kinda looked like a jumping rock to me ... a tad weird.

Stink bug, maybe? Seriously, or that's what my mom calls them. Now I can't find the words to describe what a stink bug looks like, maybe kind of prehistoric....... If you squash one, they smell bad... I looked at the pic again, not a stink bug and they don't make webs, I don't think. I'm glad he's gone.