Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Kopper King, Meet Lord Baltimore!

Since I'm not ready yet to put up my Summer Sports Partie 3 post yet, I thought I'd just give you all another taste of the ongoing Hibiscus show going on around here.... so tonight I'd like to introduce Lord Baltimore, a stately Hibiscus moscheutos variety that is one of my favorites. In terms of growing habit, it's one of the taller varieties, often reaching 6-7 feet high, with fewer blooms than some other varieties, but the red is so brilliant, you have to forgive him for being a bit stingier than his cousins.... But in any case, for the right sunny spot in the garden, you can't go wrong with Lord Baltimore, and the nice thing is, it seeds readily, and you can always start new ones if you collect them when the pods are ripe enough and pop open. From what I know, this is one of the older, more common varieties, but it's a classic. If you only have one or two Hibiscus in your garden, this should take its place along with Kopper King, the other one pictured on this page. I wanted to post this particular picture because it shows how they cluster and can produce multiple blooms at the same time.

In any case... that's all for now, but I'm working on getting the Celosia sports post worked out in my head and will have it up very soon... there's just one pesky one that I can't get a clear shot of (due to wind mostly) that I want to include, and that shot may come today, weather willing! Stay tuned....

10 comments:

olivia said...

It must be an amazing show IVG ... these flowers are wonderful. Are these the size of dinner plates too? And do they have a fragrance?

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Same size of flower, but alas, no fragrance whatsoever. It's all in the show, but the bees still love them... did you notice the red inner bits on Lord Baltimore? That's a different thing I forgot to mention!

Thx for dropping by so quickly, my friend! See you on Dada's flip side...

Family Man said...

Hugely beautiful flowers IVG.

With all your posting lately I feel like I've stepped out of a desert into a rushing torrent of IVG, and the water is good. :)

Puget4 said...

Hello IVG. What a wonderful site! This is my first visit....way overdue. Is it okay if I link to your blog from mine? This is wonderful. I'll need some time to peruse.

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi there P4! Glad you stopped by to take a look. I'd be honored to have you add a link at your site, which, btw, I plan on visiting regularly as well! It's always great to make contact with a fellow flower enthusiast. I plan on adding some more posts later this week, so do drop by again.

Puget4 said...

Will do! Thanks, IVG!

Puget4 said...

Oh, yes. You're welcome to link mine if you want to.

olivia said...

Hi P4! It's so great that you and IVG have connected ... :) I know that you will have a lot to share w/ each other and I can't wait to learn more from you both!

olivia said...

And look at your cute doggie avatars!!!

Janet said...

The flowers remind me of bellydancing-style wraps/dresses spinning around and around... Lovely as ever IVG!