A few to show from Southeast Texas 4-26

Well these are a few from yesterday. I was wanting to make the sugarland show but I guess it's not in the cards for me today. Just too crazy here.

Enjoy,
Robert

"Bayou Rose"

BlackJack

Crimson Glory

This message was edited Apr 26, 2009 10:22 AM

Eye of Kali

Funny Voodoo

Molten Lava

Night Runner

Orange Beach (I Think) Maybe a seedling spawned from (candy manors x blue thunder)

Sweet Pink

Alegria

Heres a few from this morning

A group shot Black Dragon, Eye of Kali, Cajun Princess, Bayou Rose, and Cafe Ole

Delta Dawn

Lavender Lady

Cupcake

Haunted House

Creole Lady

Vermillion Queen

Erin Rachael in her new spot

Antique Treasure

Merci Beacoupe

Aztec Sun

And "Goin Steady"

Time to go to work now. I've had my playtime today....

Robert

oops heres the pic LOL "Goin' Steady"

Great photos Robert. Delta Dawn must be a deep thinker today. The coloration is heavy duty deep. Yesterdays experience really changed my way of thinking when it comes to double flowered blooms. Was never too crazy about them personally but have completely changed my mind on that.

Jon

Thanks Jon,

I felt the same way at 1 time. Pictures NEVER do them justice!!! There are some beauties out there and then I wanted them all (lol).

I'm sure it was a great experience for you yesterday, at least getting your feet wet. You have more guts that I do (LOL) Now you can go and kick some *** next showing since you know what to look for. I have to enter the commercial, and in this catagory there are literally hundreds of blooms. I guess thats why I have a why bother attitude about it (LOL) I am not sure if you saw yesterday, but it can be very intimidating. Competing with the big boys when I am really just a collector, Oh well, I may bring a few to the la. show next weekend. Maybe you have inspired me. Just Maybe

Take Care,
Robert

The intimidating part was just looking at table after table after table of blooms. The commercial growers I met were all great friendly people who were very talkative and gave me some great advice on growing, fertilizing and some honest opinions (whether good or bad) on their own cultivators. Robert, I wouldn't be so sure you would be placed in one of the higher divisions because youve never entered before. You might want to check that out. Really you just have to wait and see what you have blooming next Friday and Saturday and decide at that time whether you want to give it a shot or not.

Jon

Your right about the intimidating part. That's it exactly! They are all great people and I love to just go and visit! Also, I love to go and pick up my next few new plants (LOL) Just hoping they have the plant that I just saw the bloom of. Now how often does that work out (LOL) I actually left a show last year with 52 plants in a 4 door car LOL

Robert

Yeah I know what you mean about how tempting it is to buy lots of plants. I pretty much stuck to my wishlist and only picked up a total of 4 plants (2 on the list and 2 others that were new to me). The most I've ever had in the collection is 59 and right now I'm sitting at 54. I usually give away a few here and there just to keep the collection manageable.

Oh come on, share the growing hints the big guys/gals gave you. Inquiring minds want to know and I need all the help I can get. :-)

You are fortunate to live in an area where they have shows. We get lots of camellia, orchid and day lily shows but that is about it. That is probably a good thing as I would be broke if I saw all those hibiscus beauties in one place.

Yea Jon,

Share the hints and tips (lol)

Alice,
Water, Fertilize, Prune and repeat. LOL

LOL yourself! :-)

There are occsionally some good hints in the "Seed Pod" but I never remember what they are. ;-(

Yeah, that's basically it. I had to keep my mouth shut as it seems I do not fertilize anywhere near the same rates as others do and basically just rotate a couple of different commercial fertilizers. All my best blooms always come from inside the pool screening around the pool. Perhaps that screening always filtering some of the sun has something to do with that.

Jon

Just picking with you Alice ;-)

You know Jon has a good point. It does seem the more filtered sun the better blooming. The plants under trees here and in shaded areas seem to bloom better than those in constant sun. I keep 40% shade cloth on the gh's and they bloom much more. The heat gets to be a killer here. Also, when fertilizer nearly doubled on me, I cut back as well on my personal plants. I hate to see my retirement fund go to fertilizer LOL The downside is that I have seen a reduction in blooms though. I'll start pumping it in every other week now to boost them up... Thats all y'all need here is to see more pics from me (lol)

Well good, because I just moved all my containers under the live oak trees. I am going out of town for a while and I wanted to put them in a shadier spot where they wouldn't melt in the sun.

Sounds good. I think it does make a difference.

What brand of hibiscus fertilizer are you using on your hibbies? How often do you water them? Do they like to dry out between watering or stay consistently moist?

Hi Phughes,

I use scotts 20-10-20 with micronutrients. I add potassium nitrate to it as well. Also, I use general purpose MG 24-8-16 at times. Once a month I give them Epsom's salts. 1 tablespoon per gallon of water. I water them in well before they are fertilized. If they are dry when fertilized it will burn up the roots.

I never let them dry out if possible. Just keep them moist but not flooded. Well drained pots as well as well drained soil.

Also I do not use a miracle grow soil or anything like that. I have not had much luck here with it. Others I have talked to swear by it.

I usually use Black Pinebark Mulch mixed with some perlite and vermiculite

Robert

Do you only grow them in pots vs. in the ground?

I just started planting some of them since many did well and came back from our winter here. I usually pot them up though. We will see how it goes.

Robert

Where is Nederland? I see you are in the same zone as me. Our winters have been pretty mild the last two years. Portland is close to Corpus Christi (South Texas).

I am curious. I read something about grafting hibiscus. I've seen adeniums and plumeria plants grafted but never knew they did hibiscus. I went on the AHS and was doing a little reading about propagating hibiscus and they listed seed, cuttings, and grafting.

When you posted pictures of the hibiscus you needed suggestions for naming, how had you propagated those. I saw where you listed the two parent hibiscus names but wasn't sure exactly what that meant you had done. I'm just curious.