Everyone got their spring orders in?

How sad is this--I don't have any of those! I did order a couple of them, but unfortunately I can't speak from experience on any of them at the moment. I'm sure that someone else around here has a few of them though! In terms of bloom time, I think they'll all pretty much bloom at the same time, they bloom as long as it's warm outside so you should be able to enjoy them all summer. Smaller plants obviously won't have as many blooms as bigger ones would, but Matt's plants are always really good size and ready to bloom so I'd expect you would get some blooms from all of them this year. And if you skip pruning them, you could enjoy blooms during the winter too. My GH is set around 60 degrees and I've had a number of them continue blooming for me. I haven't found most of the ones I have to be terribly fast growers, so you may not need to cut them back as much as you're thinking.

db Smith, four of those are my creations so I can tell you something about them. Climax was Hibiscus of the Year nationally, so it did very well in a wide variety of conditions. Right now my blooms are 9" but 8" is common in some weather. For me it is a reliable bloomer and each flower has very bright colors and perfect form. Rainbow Christie I didn't create but grew for years. The flower is very large, the eye very dark, kind of pastel yellows and pinks in the body, incomplete petal overlap . . generally very good blooms, but I dislike the growth habit of the plant, very leggy for me. Veronika Todd I named for good friend and neighbor and she took six years to wait for just the right one. Each bloom is a sculptured beauty and we prefer the hot weather versions with the white spots; great plant here. Susan Schlueter I named for my wife, so ya gotta know it is good. Tropical Punch makes very large flowers, very firm texture, fully overlapped show form, multiple days, yellow and orange and pink with spots; brand new release, being evaluated by the Amer Hib Society for Hibiscus of the Year competition.
Also not mine, Silver Memories for me made one of the prettiest plants I ever saw; keep moving it till you find a spot it likes and it will bloom enough to please you, I think. Beautiful bloom.
Softly Spoken makes huge lavender flowers with good form, perfect for exhibition where hib shows exist. Plant not as good as the bloom, but you might not care when you see a few blooms.
Cherry Cola will be the smallest of this list, I think; the breeder sent me wood but it has not bloomed yet. Pretty pictures.
Think Pink is nice but since you like them big, you might want to wait for my Collectible (attached) which Matt will be selling. Huge, perfect flat form, hvy texture, good bloomer, lots bigger than Think Pink.
HOpe this helps,
Barry

Hi DB,
I am an avid collector (understated, lol) of Hibs, and own alot of Barry's!
Matt is a phenomenal person and hybridizer, so you won't be dissapointed.
My favs (that have bloomed) are as follows, from your list:
Cherry Cola - not alot of brown, more like deep purple with brown edges.
Whirlygig - a small beautiful flower. There should be a picture on this thread.
Gator Magic is very pretty, may have a pic from last summer.
Susan Schueter is gorgeous. May have a recent pic.
Silver memories has not bloomed, but I saw it at Matts, in the fall and it was gorgeous.

Oops... I meant the "Merry Hibismas" thread. There you can see all the blooms from the last 3 weeks and who I bought them from :)

Thank you for the quick responses. And Barry, I LOVE your hibiscus. Since I have the ear of such authorities, are there any others on Matt's site that I should be considering instead of or in addition to my choices? Perhaps some of the to be announced selections? I love Barry Schlueter (plant) and Persian Rug, but I don't know if they would be good choices for pot culture. And I do prune - down to about 18 inches and I defoliate at much as possible for winter storage. I'd like plants that don't get too leggy - except for the Truffle, which I will experiment with to form a standard (can't be much different than doing my fuschia trees).
I have looked at your thread cat - and love them all!!!! I couldn't figure out how you could have so many, and then I noticed you lived in Florida. If only the tropical ones were hardy here (but then they wouldn't be tropical)

I think most of those should do fine in pots--a lot of people don't have the climate to grow them outdoors year round. I grow all mine in containers--partly because my garden is semi-xeriscape and I don't think the hibiscus would appreciate those growing conditions, and partly because although they'd survive my winters most of the time, we get enough frosty nights that they would take forever to come back and start blooming the following year. Most of mine I've only had for a year or two but from what I've seen so far I can't see why they wouldn't do fine in containers long term.

All of mine are in pots...they liked it better than when they were in the ground.

I just ordered several from hibiscus place, a couple weeks ago,

these are the ones I ordered.

I ordered a couple times right before he closed his site down for the winter too.

I really want that irish spring but backed out this time, I need to have a good talk with my pocket book, LOL

see if I can swing another order.

barry schlueter
gator magic
nightmare
veronica todd
yoda

Kathy-ann, You won't go wrong with any of them. They all seem to be beautiful.
PS....you need to have a STRONG talk with your pocketbook. It will lose!!!!

So far pocketbook is winning. LOL

Oh no, you can't let that happen. You're the boss, you need to put your pocketbook in its place and tell it that it's not the boss of you! LOL

We're such a bunch of enablers around here aren't we!

I'll try. LOL. I'll let you know who wins out.

No need, we KNOW which will win. LOL

LOL - yep, you are definitely the master over your wallet - we have all valiantly fought this battle and lost. Welcome to the world of hibiscus addiction!

karen

My problem is my husband's wallet. Or perhaps I should say it is his big problem. LOL

I hear you there. It's not really my wallet that gives me problems.