Hibiscus happy

I now have 7 hibiscus planted, labeled as follows: Cosmic Dancer, Hills of Gold, Hot Tamale, Voodoo Queen, plus 3 unlabeled, a double red, a double dark coral, and a single pink with a red throat. I have spots for 2 more. .
What I'm wondering is how y'all find room for all the lovelies. How many hibiscus do you have? And how much land do you devote to them? (And how much is this different from when you started, or did you *know* you were a goner early on?)

Decklife, we once went down the coast in early April thinking of moving to Rockport where we have warmer winters than in Houston. But there was hard frost the next morning, so my illusion of warmth evaporated, compared to Houston. Luck to you.

To answer your question, though I am not typical . . I grew seven or so for a year, then found a nursery with exotics and grew thirty for five years or so, actually digging them up and potting them each December and doing the garage shuffle all winter. And then we stumbled upon a hibiscus show and sale in Miami where we were vacationing . . and I stopped breeding roses and lilies and we went to 200 hibiscus and began breeding them and now we may have . . 300 with actual names on them and two or three thousand with numbers only or with working names while they are evaluated for a few years. We have a half acre south of Houston with one 90' x 16'greenhouse and one 25 x 25 and two small ones. The sides roll up on the houses so most of the year they only provide some shade and many, many pots are outside from March thru December or so. Very few are planted directly in the ground because it is so much easier to winter protect a potted plant.
hope this helps,
Barry
attached is a new one, 8-9" and heavy texture, lots more spots in summer, I'll wager.

I keep all mine in containers, so that helps with the space in the garden! It's partly because they like my winters much better in my greenhouse, and they like way too much water for me to want to plant them in my garden. I don't mind giving the containers a little extra water, but the garden beds need to get by on not too much water during our dry summers. I started out with maybe 2 or 3 plants which I had for a couple years, and then last year I discovered some of the mail order places that had much more interesting plants than what I could find locally, and I bought a bunch--now I probably have 35 or so, and about 10-15 more on the way once everyone starts shipping this spring.

I never thought about keeping them in pots, but if I want more, that could help!! The hibiscus I see around town seem to bloom all winter. We'll cover our plants if we need to in case of cold. I can't wait to see how they do. Barry, that blossom is lovely!

I started with 6, exactly one year ago. A month later I had 17, and it kept going and going.
At first all my hibs were put in the ground. Then I had a major flood and retransplanted 44 of them, back into pots...where they will stay forever. I have 1/3 acre, and have doubled up on rows of plants.
I now, with the completed new shipments, will have: 199.

(Oops, I lied. I only have 190, lol)

It's alot of work. 1 to 2 hours per day, but worth every minute of it.

And soon, I will buy a drip system, as soon as Robert tells me what to get, lol!

This message was edited Feb 26, 2008 1:23 AM

I thought I was bad going from 2 or 3 to 30 or 40 in one year but you sure have me beat! I thought you had started collecting long before I did! Guess I got some catching up to do LOL! Of course my greenhouse is only 5x9 so I don't think I could fit 200 hibbies in there even if I didn't have any other tropicals

A drip system is great and you will not believe how much time you will free up to do other things with your plants you would rather be doing.
Gene

I'm hoping to get some kind of irrigation system later on. Knowing my husband, I think it might be just more hoses. :)

I found a drip system to be not only time saving but the plants were so much healthier too. In our climate they can dry out quickly, often in just several hours; with a drip system the soil maintains just the right amount of moisture and the plants love it. The difference was startling.

Cat, just go to Lowes or Home Depot and pick up a Rain Bird system to start, all the parts you need are in the kit along with easy directions. They are in the irrigation section of the plumbing dept. Do not buy the ones from the garden dept., they are not worth it.

Alice,
How many plants does the starter system water? Mine has to go about 240 feet.

Cat best I can remember it is about 50 ft but the plastic hose is cheap so that shouldn't be a problem and you can buy any additional ass. you need........Gene

LOL

Cat, I believe my main line was more than 50' because it ran the length of my deck which runs the length of the house and I had a lot left over. But, I did install this several years ago and I may have bought extra hose, I just don't remember. I just had to tear mine down last week because we are remodeling the back of the house and they tore the deck down this week. I saved all the feeder lines and emiters but I'll have to start over in a month or two - hopefully.

Not trying to change the thread topic ...

Can someone help me out with the drip system concept? What is it?