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I think that by now, anyone who has read at least a few posts here at Urban Oasis knows that I'm a hopelessly addicted Hibiscus fanatic. (If not, you'd better study up using the labels provided. They will be on the final exam!) The last few years I've ventured back into growing the tropical varieties again after taking several years off ... when we first moved to Casa IVG back in September, 1998, I had been growing a lovely orange one for a couple of years and we brought it with us. Unfortunately, I treated it so well that it grew to be over 6 feet tall in its big pot, and every fall we brought it in, we grumbled about its size --not to mention weight-- and where to put it (that's a real problem for us with everything that spends the summer outside). I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but one fall it just happened to be outside when we got a hard freeze, so that was the end of that. I felt bad enough about that episode that I stayed away from them for several years, and just began re-entering the fold about 3 years ago. That was about the time that I discovered the incredible new varieties being developed by Bahama Bay Hibiscus, the inspired breeders who brought these two stunning examples shown here to the mass market. Of course, these days tropical hibiscus are pretty common, easy to find tropicals at many nurseries and mass merchandisers, and though there are a lot of perfectly lovely, simply colored varieties available at reasonable prices, they certainly don't hold a foot candle to these showier (read: more expensive) hybrids. I guess when I decided to get back in touch with my inner tropical hibiscus again, I also vowed not to grow just any Hibiscus I found, but rather to limit myself to the truly remarkable cultivars. This way I can grow fewer plants, enjoy them more, and give them the winter pampering they so desperately need (and demand).
Thus my acquisition of these two stunners (from the top), 'Erin Rachel' and my newly purchased 'Sun Showers' from last spring. They are indeed the two most eye popping hibiscus I've seen in years, so of course, I just had to have them! (Photos taken on September 13, 2008, the first is mine and the second courtesy of Fernymoss.) 
Fernymoss 'posed' this second shot so he could get both blooms in to show the contrast between these newest cultivars ('Erin Rachel' hit the market last year, and 'Sun Showers' this year) ... talk about the full range of the fire colors? Put these two together and you can run the whole rosy red orange yellow gamut of possibilities hibiscus can offer. I'm sorry, but if you want more colors included, I think you're going to have to either depend on Bahama Bay or breed them yourself! I'm really proud to have these two as part of our collection, even if we are going to have to make some concerted efforts to keep them happy during the coming winter.
Like most tropical hibiscus grown outside during the summer and brought inside in fall, they do not like the transition to a less sunny and humid place, thus they lose lots of leaves for a while. Though it's no reason for despair, you do have to be aware that they should winter in the sunniest areas of the house you can provide, keep them watered regularly and hold off on feedings. During the summer we generally feed them monthly with an organic fish emulsion solution, which keeps them robust and blooming during the warmer months. I discourage feeding during the winter because they tend to get somewhat leggy anyway, and feeding will only promote this further. If you can provide additional light (e.g. fluorescent or grow lights), they may well bloom for you over the winter. We have two direct sun Southern windows on one side of the house and that's where they will winter here, and hopefully give us a few blooms. 'Erin Rachel' did bloom sporadically last winter after she recovered from the initial shock, but towards spring she developed a bit of root rot (due to the container she was in) from which it took her most of this summer to recover. She's obviously feeling --and looking-- much better now, and I hope that we can keep them outside for at least several more weeks before we are forced to bring them in. It all depends, but the signs seem to point to an early frost this year for some reason. I certainly hope I'm wrong, but I can kind of sense it in my gardener's bones already.... Only time will tell.
Last weekend, Fernymoss and I sat down to decide what bulbs we are going to order this year and came up with a preliminary order from Van Bourgondien, a supplier we have used and been quite pleased with in the past. To be honest, we didn't really want to order much because it's so much work digging all the holes when the weather is so fickle in October and November, but this year Nature pretty much forced us into it. I've already bemoaned, gnashed teeth and otherwise pulled out thinning hair about the loss of most of our tulips earlier this year, so I won't rehash all that now. (Whew for readers!) So here we go again ... we are going to order about 80 more tulips (mostly Darwins), some more Crocus, Camassia, some small Fritillarias, Stargazer Lilies, and a few others mostly chosen from the 'bargain pages.' We're still debating about whether to get another Dragon Arum (aka: 'Mr. Stinky'), but at this point we've decided that since our other one is spreading so well, we may just skip that one, since the 'Voodoo Lily' Arum we planted this summer is up and growing right now. That doesn't mean we won't change our minds before we actually place the order soon, heh.
Are you other gardeners out there planning for fall plantings yet? I know some don't have the luxury of spring bulbs, but what else are you planting when fall is in its last phases?
Tonight we have a bit of a potpourri of shots from Saturday and Sunday at Casa IVG ... I don't really have an organized theme here, but if we're lucky, maybe one will emerge! Just some pretty mundane pictures of a Saturday and Sunday spent outside in the garden, weeding and planting more of the remaining perennials in the front Boulder Bed.
ARACHNOPHOBE ALERT! If you're seriously freaked out by spiders, you should just cruise by photo number 4 (there, Manny, I warned you!)
The dainty purple flower depicted above is a Toad Lily (Tricyrtis hirta), though I've lost the tag with the specific cultivar, so if any Toad Lily fans out there know the cultivar (iaBoy, can you help out?), I'd appreciate hearing it, so I can definitively ID it. Now, aside from being positively lovely, it's really playing a little trick on us, by blooming pretty early for most Toad Lilies (who come into their own usually in September when everything else is done blooming). I planted this particular plant last year in the bed with the primroses (it's right behind them toward the back) and it's really happy where it's growing. Not only did it winter just fine with several feet of snow over it for months on end, but it was up pretty early, bringing some of its offspring with it, and we discovered yesterday that more are on the way. At first, the main plant came up, swiftly followed by an offshoot that has been growing quite rapidly, and yesterday Fernymoss was weeding a bit around it and discovered that it's also putting out a long runner from the base of the plant, which he carefully covered with a bit of dirt so it can do its thing and produce yet another offshoot. Toad Lilies are wonderful colonizers for whom only the meanest gardener (and I don't meet too many of those!) would begrudge them the space they seek to occupy.
Our original plant in the Woodland Garden is currently over 4 ft tall and really gearing up for a spectacular show this year, along with the two other new ones we put in near it last year. Just be patient, and you'll be seeing lots more of them come late August or September. To my mind, Toad Lilies are one of the best kept secrets of the garden, because they're easy to grow (in shade only however!) and spring into action in the garden by producing their delicate orchid like flowers just when everything else in the garden has pretty much packed it in for the season ... and they bloom right up to (and sometimes after) frost! Perfect for deeply shaded, moisture retaining spots in the garden, where they multiply faithfully after the first couple of years. And there are so many varieties that there's bound to be a cultivar for every taste!
This is a view of where I was toiling in the heat and humidity yesterday, weeding out and rescuing that clump of Calendula that had been overrun by all sorts of weeds. Once I got the area cleared (which itself took quite a bit of time), I planted a couple of small rows of Zinnias by the Calendulas, and some Four O'clock seeds here and there, in the hope that they will take off again somewhere in the garden this year, even if they don't get enormous by fall, at least we'll get some blooms and with any luck, visits from the Sphinx Moths! I planted two Salvia nemorosa 'May Night' nearby, as well as one of my new Hibiscus moscheutos 'Luna Red.' I placed it more or less in line with the 'Lord Baltimore' you can see in the background of this shot (near the front of the line with the Porcupine Grass in the distance). While 'Lord Baltimore' is quite stately, reaching heights of 5-6 ft, 'Luna Red' is one of the newer, bushier cultivars that spreads more, but usually tops out at about 3-4 ft (like the 'Disco Belles' and 'Blue River II' cultivars). Discerning gardener eyes will also spot quite a few other things in this shot ... like the Rue (Ruta graveolens) blooming behind the Coneflowers, a few Calendulas, and in that big pot (hidden from street view) there are three 'Carmencita Rose' Castor seedlings just peeking above the top of the pot. We had some annuals in the pot last year, and never got around to dumping it or moving it, so we just decided to pop a few Castor seeds in it to see what might happen this year ... yeah, one of our many garden caprices that may or may not work out! 
Though Queen Pepa (approximately) was spending most of the afternoon indoors due to the heat and humidity, we heard her plaintively asking to join us out front, so when we decided to take a break for a late afternoon beer, she came out to keep us company, lounging obediently on one of the front steps. I mentioned recently how much of a treat this is for her ... I think it's the equivalent of getting to eat at the grown ups' table for her, because she rarely gets to run free in the front of the house (because our street does have a fair amount --but not insane-- of traffic). So these are special moments for her when she gets to join us on one of our breaks from weeding and planting.
And then, along came a spider ... which literally did sit down beside her, though Pepa was largely oblivious to it, which was probably fortunate for both of them! Fernymoss IDed this as a "thin legged wolf spider," one of the rare species of spiders who don't spin webs. This is clearly a female with her brood (thus the fluffy looking abdomen -- make sure to click for the large version) who happened by. Apparently the females of this species drag their egg sac behind them until the little ones hatch, then they all clamber up on her back and ride around with her until they are big enough to take off on their own. 
Mallow Mania continues unabated around here, with the above shot being the most current bloom from one of my tropical species, 'Brilliantissima Red.' Though the late afternoon light doesn't do it justice in this shot, it's a lovely deep red flower that can arrive in profusion as the summer progresses. Unfortunately I missed the first 'Erin Rachel' bloom of the summer because by the time I actually noticed it, it was getting too dark to take a photo. But she's finally recovering from her winter slump and gearing up for more glory in the sun ....
This hollyhock may look familiar, as it's the one I showed a while back, growing in the truly wild back corner of our lot (along with the Monarda, Baptisia, Coneflowers and Phlox). It was looking particularly pretty to me today, so I had to shoot it! Don't worry, no flowers were harmed in the creation of this post....
If you remember my herb garden post from a while back, I had showed some of the emerging Basil seedlings, well this is how they looked late this afternoon as I wandered around the back looking for likely suspects to include in this hodge podge post. Aside from needing a good weeding, I also want to thin it a bit (my sister wants some plants, so I'll likely dig a few for her) and give it a good pinching to promote bushier growth. It smells great already, and I'm finding it hard to be patient for the arrival of the first tomatoes with whom it makes such a great companion. One of my favorite tomato season salads is a simple dish of tomato slices, with shredded basil and balsamic vinegar sprinkled over it. And if I have Nasturtium flowers at the time, I throw some of those in as well, and that's (as Alton Brown would say) Good Eats! 
Talk about needing patience! This is the 'Bush Celebrity' tomato I have planted in the herb bed just behind the house. This particular variety never gets as big as other 'regular' varieties, but is a great tomato to grow if you're limited on space you have for them. They'll even grow happily in a big pot on your patio or terrace, which, if you decide to go that way, make sure to sprinkle some Basil seeds around the edges to keep them company. Basil should always accompany tomatoes nearby as they are perfect companion plants! In the garden and kitchen as well!
And finally, here's our corn patch today. Yes, it needs a good weeding, but we haven't gotten back that far yet in our never ending weeding sessions ... notice the bricks, tomato cage and stakes? Well, when I first went out back today, I was horrified to see about half the corn laying on the ground, beaten into near submission by those storms we had last night. Fortunately, they weren't snapped, so Fernymoss just hopped in and propped them all up with bricks, rocks and whatever we could find to give them support. The onions also took a bit of a beating, but that's less serious where they're concerned ... And now, I hear thunder in the neighborhood as we prepare for our next round of storms tonight. There are some really nasty ones moving in from Nebraska currently and I actually hope they miss us (supposed to arrive around 2:00 a.m. here). These storms have been producing high winds, large hail and torrential rains, and I think we can do without that. Yes, we needed rain, but with what we've had since Thursday night, Saturday night and now tonight, we can take a few dry days for things to recover a bit. I've really got to get working on that storm diverter to send them down Gail and Annie's ways when we've had our fill, but I'm not making much progress on it. Sorry, my Southern Garden Friends!
To conclude, I'd like to give a hearty shout out to Mr. McGregor's Daughter, a garden blogger in the Chicago area who has a fantastic garden and blog that demands to be visited. In perhaps one of the most informative and useful posts I've read this year on a garden blog, last week she detailed her method of eradicating the vile, pernicious and downright infuriating bindweed, the scourge of our (and others') gardens. I encourage any of you reading this who don't know her blog to stop by, at least for this post, The Squirrelhaven Method of Bindweed Eradication. You'll be glad you did!
I've got a couple of pretty intense work weeks ahead of me, so my posting may be somewhat spotty, so bear with me if I don't keep up with my regular schedule. Come early July, things should have calmed down a bit and I'll be back in the usual swing ... In the meanwhile, Fernymoss is having even more fun with the S700 so he'll be doing a lot of the photography in the interim, though I hope to have the chance to shoot a few myself ... it all just depends on the work demands. Enough Whining. (Bring on the triple crème Brie!), here's some fun shots of our new tropical Hibiscus, 'Sun Showers,' who I introduced to you all last week ....
We had a quadruple blast today, but you can only see three of the blooms in this shot, but it's a good one, I think! (Fernymoss did great, as always!) Keep your eye on the leaf hopper in the first flower, because you'll see more of him in greater detail later ....
This shot really blows me away by the range of intense colors represented in just one flower ... It's difficult to describe (or photograph) the incredible range of color variations in each flower and you could spend hours peering up close and comparing different blooms. More and more, I'm glad we sprang for the (gulp) $40 price tag on this specimen, and believe me, we're going to pamper it!
Ok, Olivia, here you get not only IBs, but the shadow of IBs, how's that? Kind of a sort of meta-photography, eh? Again, note the leaf hopper on the upper right of the flower.
And finally, a crop of another shot where Fernymoss got up really close to get the leaf hopper in focus ... who knew they were so pretty up close! My first thought was to compare it to those 'Neon Tetras' I used to have in aquariums when I was a kid ... how about you?
So ... are you ready to go out to the garden centers looking for this hibiscus? Ok, I realize that not everyone is as hibiscus-obsessed as I am, but it truly is a spectacular plant that we're really excited to have in our collection now, even if it does have to winter indoors and suffer a bit in the process. But there's always Summer to watch them spring back and truly show their best assets!
Oh, by the way, have I mentioned how much I love all sorts of Hibiscus in the garden? I'm irreversibly hooked on them, and always have been, since I got my first double blooming red Chinese Hibiscus back in 1977....
Our newest addition to the hibiscus family, Sun Showers, graced us with three gorgeous and huge (about 8" across) flowers for the first time today!
The past few years I've been tempted by (and succumbed to) some of the striking new Hibiscus hybrids being developed, most notably the ones from a company called Bahama Bay Hibiscus. This is one of their newest introductions this year, and we think it's a real stunner, with its bright blasts of colors ... Orange, red, shades of pink and interesting blotches of yellow. It's touted as a variety that will bloom constantly in summer given a sunny spot in the garden (or in this case in a pot on the patio), and has the potential to grow up to 8 feet tall in warmer climates. Since it's a tropical variety, we'll have to bring it in for the winter, which usually means that it will not bloom much (if at all) over the winter. We may, however, rig up some additional lighting for it, but even when hibiscus bloom indoors, they are rarely as large as the flowers one gets during the height of the summer months. But I have the feeling that we're really going to enjoy having 'Sun Showers' around this summer and it will impress more than a few people with its electric eye popping colors ...
It's got to be a true sign of Spring for real this time! Erin Rachel has ended her long winter rest from blooming and finally opened her first flower this weekend! You might remember this stunner from a few posts I did last year, and in particular a great Trifecta shot from last July.
Erin didn't seem to take well to indoor dwelling at the beginning of the winter and dropped most of her leaves in protest, despite being in one of the sunniest spots we have in the house at the base of the stairs. She's definitely one of those high light plants who basically refuse to bloom until the light is intense enough and lasts longer ... so I've been encouraged more the last two months as she's bulked up on the leaves again and started to put on small buds, some of which, unfortunately dropped off before they developed much. Such is indoor life for a tropical hibiscus unless its humidity and light requirements are met more successfully than we were able to provide this past winter.
Though her first flower this year is significantly smaller than they will be once she's happily back outside again, it was a most welcome 'Hellooo!' to go downstairs yesterday morning and see this electrically bright bloom at the base of the stairs! Especially on a day when outside it was once again back to snow, rain and clouds all day ... Even with the lack of sun, I took this shot in natural light! Ah the emerging wonders from the S700 ... the more I use it, the more I'm impressed and less intimidated by its prowess. I just used the 'Flower' scene position with its built in macro settings and needless to say, I was really pleased with the results! Your thoughts ...?
Oh yeah, the previous 'Pink Wave' post was a detail of a portion of this flower ... if you look closely, I'm sure you'll find where it is in the larger context of the bloom ...
Just a quick update on the 'new girl' of the hibiscus clan, who was truly blooming her heart out yesterday (7/10/07). I wonder how often we'll actually be able to get such perfectly aligned shots of a multiple bloom, so of course Fernymoss had to capture this while it lasted. Today these were all drooping and getting ready to drop, however two new fresh ones popped open to take their places. Though I often sigh and lament about how fleeting hibiscus flowers are --since they last merely a day-- the good thing is they're such prolific bloomers that we quickly forget and look forward to what slightly different beauty will follow ....
And have I mentioned yet how much we are just loving this particular hibiscus? LOL
Photo by Fernymoss, taken with flash, 10 July, 2007.
Just a quick post tonight, since I've been trying to take it easy today ... haven't been feeling so great the past few days, so hopeful I got my batteries recharged today!
These are two shots of the hibiscus taken this afternoon... (Brilliantissima is the red one and the other, of course, is our new girl, Erin Rachel.) I don't usually think to turn the lens on the spent blooms (the red one was blooming yesterday), but I thought this looked like it might be an interesting perspective on the IBs ... I kind of like how it turned out, all horizontal and everything. Erin Rachel is turning out to be one gorgeous plant, who's going to soon find more space in a bigger pot. Seems like that feeding with fish emulsion was appreciated, as she's putting on tons of buds, along with Brilliantissima.
Tomorrow I vow to get some more weeding and seeding done, but that job just never ends around here! Wish me luck ...
Tonight's Movie Choice at Casa IVG is Breakfast of Champions, a 1999 adaptation of Vonnegut's classic novel directed by Alan Rudolph (a personal favorite of mine and former acolyte of Robert Altman). Don't let Bruce Willis scare you off, because if he hadn't gotten involved producing, this film would never have been made. And he's actually quite good in the role of Dwayne Hoover. It's a goofy, somewhat surreal romp through suburbia, and though of course it can never fly to the heights of Vonnegut's inspired fantasy, it does a pretty damn good job. Worth a look if you're a Vonnegut fan ... others, I'm afraid (especially those who haven't read the book) might be a bit confused and bewildered by it ... I guess it's one of those films you either love or hate. We love it, and just got the DVD yesterday to replace the aging VHS copy we've had for several years. Looking forward to seeing it again after quite a while! You can buy it here on Amazon, for a nice price!
And now continuing with our impromptu stroll through the marvelous land of the Mallows, I'd like to introduce you all to Erin Rachel, the newest member of our hibiscus collection here at Casa IVG.
What a nice surprise waiting for me after work today ... the new hibiscus I bought recently has finally started to bloom again! I found this luscious tropical hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Erin Rachel') back in May at a local garden center where it immediately caught my eye with its striking neon rings of colour. Though it wasn't cheap ($34!), I just had to have it. It only had one bloom on it at the time, but that was enough to convince me to plunk my money down and take her home with us. (And those regulars around here know that I'm a bit of a hibiscus freak at heart, so this should come as no surprise to them.)
Though it's not very tall yet, it's a fairly mature
(though closely pruned) specimen that should grow nicely into a compact bush by the end of the summer. I've still not gotten around to repotting her, and I suspect that has had something to do with her hiatus from blooming the last month or so. Now a lot of buds are coming on, and she should produce flowers profusely as we move on into the hotter, sunnier months of summer. We gave her a feeding with a fish emulsion solution a couple of weeks ago (along with my other 'Brilliantissima' red hibiscus) and that seems to have had the desired effect. (A good feeding with fish emulsion solution about once a month seems to keep them quite happy.) Now I just need to move her to a larger, more attractive pot where she can really take off for the rest of the summer and beyond.
According to the information I've found on this new hybrid variety, it's relatively slow gro
wing for a tropical hibiscus and is only supposed to reach 5-6' tall at maturity. That's actually somewhat short for these types of hibiscus that you see growing in profusion in Florida and other parts of the south. It is a member of the large Mallow family (like our perennial hibiscus, the Prairie Mallow, et. al.) but is far from hardy to our zone, so we'll be bringing this beauty inside when the weather gets colder. Tropical hibiscus such as these do quite well as houseplants over the winter, as long as you can provide them with a very sunny window (preferably south or east), adequate water and a decent level of relative humidity in the house. I kept our Brilliantissima red at the top of the stairs in front of a south window last winter and it bloomed pretty frequently even during the coldest months. And of course as soon as it's warm enough to take them back outside in the spring, they spend the summer basking in the sun and blooming their hearts out. We look forward to even more eye popping colour from Erin Rachel this summer ... so you'll probably be seeing more of her in the months to come.
