Merry Hibismas!

Hey Cat,
Very beautiful collection!!!

Robert

Oh Cat, in another month or 2 I need to open one of your threads and start picking my spring order. I am getting so excited. I love seeing all these flowers.

Barry, I so wish we had hibiscus shows here. We had David but he was kind of far for me to go to on a whim and now he has quit!!! I get a lot of mine at Armstrong Nursery. They sell big 2 gallon ones from Dupont Nursery I think. I wish they got more of a variety! Your New Years Day bloom is just spectacular.

We just got back from a long weekend in Carmel. No hibiscus there but no frost either. I wonder if it is too chilly therein summer for many blooms. But lots of things in bloom right now! We are trying to decide where to move. We stayed right on the beach. The ocean sure pulls me.

I'm hoping to make it down to HVH for one of their open houses this coming year. I have a friend in LA who's getting married on Aug 31st, and I think the open houses are the last Sat of the month, so I'm hoping I can sneak down there for the open house on the 30th and then get back to LA in time for dinner.

Kell, Armstrong usually sells my stuff as Bahama Bay Hibiscus grown by Hines Horticulture, a dozen or so varieties, with my name and such on the picture tag.

Carmel is probably better for geraniums and tuberous begonias and roses, in my memory. Big Sur and all is so beautiful, though . .

Here's what New Year's Day looks like on a good day . . Tomorrow?
:-)
Happy New Year!

Barry

OMG! New Years Day is spectacular.
Kell, Love the beach pic. Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation.

Happy New Year everyone.

Barry, I love your New Years Day. My convoluted brain is thinking it won't be too bad if I lose a few hibs to the cold nights this week. I'll then have a really good excuse to buy more new varieties. Actually, I wouldn't want to be accused of hibiscus abuse so I am starting to haul the babies inside this morning. It was 54 at 6 am and it is so hard to believe it will be around 30 here tonight.

Kell, I love Carmel and I do remember the geraniums being spectacular but if you could have a real GH you could grow anything. Go for it......LOL

It's only 12 in Iowa right now. I'm losing hibiscus in the basement. It's cool down there, but not cold. They are under 'two' double bulb, 48 inch florescent light fixtures and I'm holding back on the water until they really need it so the roots won't rot. This may squash my need for a lot more hibs next spring. I may have to enjoy them through your pictures.

What exactly is happening to them? They might not be as happy as they would be outside with sunshine in a warmer climate, but being in a basement with lights shouldn't kill them. Maybe they drop a few leaves, but as long as you don't overwater them that should keep them alive for the winter and then they'll come back nicely in the spring when you take them outside again.

The ones that have died have just dropped all the leaves and have grown no new leaves. I'm keeping a little water on them so that if they choose to live, they will have a little moisture to go on. There are about six of them that have done this over 4-6 weeks.

I wouldn't assume that they've died--if they dropped leaves from stress they probably won't grow new ones until they're happy again, which may not be until the spring when you take them back outside again. Unless you overwatered them or left them in below freezing temps I doubt if they're dead.

That's good to know. I'll just hope that things get better with them in the spring. Thanks so much.

Give the stems a tiny little scratch; if you can see any green they should be alive. The hibs I leave outdoors will often lose all their leaves but as long as I keep them on the dry side they pop right out again in the spring.
Good luck with them.

Thanks. Will do the scratch test on my next trip to the basement.

I just love how all the stores in Carmel have mini gardens even if all potted. I saw lots of kinds of fuchsias in bloom, lots of abutilons, yes geraniums, and vast areas of wax begonias in full bloom. Green all over. Such fun in December!! We mostly go to Carmel to eat at our favorite restuarant, L'Auberge. I have to drag my husband around to look at the small gardens.

Barry, I see your Bahama Bay Hibiscus all over in nurseries around here. How much fun that they are yours!!! I sure have a bought a few. LOL. Navlets usually has them all the time.
http://www.bahamabay-hibiscus.com/Bahama%20Bay/BahamaBayHomePage.aspx

Armstrong used to have Hotbiscus too. Now they have another growers too. When I go out to water later I will look to see if there is a name tag left on any of them. Unfortunately, I do not see lots of different kinds so this year I am going to order them in. This forum is my downfall. How can you resist the huge vibrant blooms?

Here is a another WOW in life for all of you who cherish beauty as much as I do. Fun jellies we saw at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Another of our hangouts when we do our weekends in the Carmel area.
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_se/se_jla.asp

One look and I gasped to my husband that God must have been a girl when he made these.

Awesome photo Kelley girl; we love the Monterey Aquarium too. The first time I saw the jelly tanks was there and now all the big aquariums have them.

I can't believe you can get Barry's hibiscus in CA. Not fair!!!!
Barry, you need to do something about this horrible situation. Tell those folks at Hines there are two coasts in this country.

I think I have everyone they sell. LOL. And they are looking so good this year. Last year at this time they were a mess already. We are so warm. But storms are coming thru starting today and I am just hoping my hoophouse is left standing.

Oh I would love to go see other aquariums. You get around, Alice. Lucky you! There is another one in San Francisco and do you believe I have never gone even though I go into SF so often but just not on the tourist tour.

Their anemones were incredible also. Such incredible colorful underwater gardens!

Brugie,
I lose alot of leaves this time of year, but spring pops them back up.

Hope everyone made it thru the freeze the last few days. I now have to carry, back outside,around 112 hibs in pots.

Learned that I need to put a heater in my storage shed next time. Plants survived, some not in great shape, but it was colder in the shed than outside.

The Plants that stayed outside, with christmas lights by roots, and sheets above, look great. The soil was actually warm!

Below are some pics from right before I covered everything. Some were in morning, the others were as it was starting to rain.

"Big Easy"

Cosmic Dancer (Robert)

I was hesitant to buy this one. Thank goodness Robert convinced me otherwise :)

Fire and Ice

Key Lime Pie (Charles & Cindy)

Leroy (Mr. Conrad)

Love Bug (Matt)

Madame Dupont (Robert)

She is soaking wet, so you really can't see how beautiful her flowers are.

Mon Ami (Robert)

Saxon T (Matt)

Snow Queen (Lowes?)

Ruth Watson (Matt)

Time for Magic (Robert or Matt)

Gee, your 9B is so much better than my 9B. My hibiscus outside do not look like yours and I must say though I did get a few blooms into December not many!!! You are so lucky! We may have much more rain than you too for our rainy season is in winter. I do notice plants hate the cold along with being so soggy.

I thought I read where it was snowing in your area. Could it have been?

Great shots as always.

It is good to know the lights worked so well for you. I am going to hit the dollar stores this week and see if I can get any of those lights that come in sheets for draping over shrubs at Christmas.

We have had a lot of carnage here but it was mostly due to the fact that there was so much new growth from the warm spell before the big chill and, of course, the horrible wind that first night. My huge 5' x 7' NOID single red hibiscus looks the worst; Cairo Peach looks terrific and it had no protection. The temps this weekend are supposed to reach the 70's, great weather for cleaning up the mess. I can't wait to get all the potted plants out of the house and garage again. I hope this past week is not an indication fo what the rest of the winter will be like.

Gosh, me too Alice. I hate it when I think my house might fly away. LOL

Yesterday OSH had lots of those mini lights for 75% off, I didn't even think to look at them. I probably should buy some just in case things turn cold.

Our 9b definitely isn't as good as Florida's 9b...I think we all see the same typical lowest temperatures, but in Florida you get those temps maybe 2 times during the winter, but we get them over and over again all winter long. And all the rain doesn't help either! My hibbies would be miserable if I didn't put them in the GH.

We DID have snow flurries, but they only lasted 4 minutes, lol. It was 3am, so I wasn't awake to see them.
I am also going to be searching for more net lights. This way I won;t have to bring in 112 pots everytime we have a cold spell!
Funny enough, the healthiest plants from this whole ordeal, are the ones that were NOT protected at all!

Wow Cat - your flowers are just breathtaking. Do you have your own picture website? If not, you ought to get yourself a Phanfare site with all your beautiful blooms :-) I have one and it's lots of fun. Like everything else, it's been neglected for the past few months, but oh well, it's a new year now, right?

I can't believe all the beautiful blooms I've missed not being online for a while and what a nice treat it is to see them all when it's so cold and rainy outside :-)

Here's to a beautiful spring!

karen

Karen, whats the website addy for fanfare?

The address for information or to download it is www.phanfare.com

Check out my website and see if it looks like something you would like, at www.amarantha.phanfare.com. You can add in music and stuff too - you can hear my musical choices (haha) by watching the various slideshows.

You can choose from lots of different colors and layouts and it's super easy to use. If you decide to sign up, put me down as referring you. Let me know what you think about mine :-) I really think that with all your beautiful pics, it would be fun for you to do, and fun for your friends/family to see. My friends really like it cuz there's always new (well not too much recently) hibiscus blooms...

This message was edited Jan 6, 2008 10:12 PM

Karen,
Will do.

Still going with blooms. First up:

Buff Beauty (Matt)

Hot Bikini (Robert)

Largo Breeze (HD)

Lost Treasure-2 (Matt)