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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?
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.
Guest photo by Fernymoss ... 10 July, 2007.
S/He's baaaaaaaccckkk! Fernymoss wandered out for a while tonight with the camera and got some spectacular shots of Erin Rachel blooming in triplicate, as well as some more abstract leaf texture shots.. But the definite prize (to our surprise) was him finding our little friend the Praying Mantis back hanging out on the Coreopsis. We're thinking that at this point s/he's staking out territory back in this bed ... it will be interesting to see if s/he goes on up in the world when the Hibiscus moscheutos start blooming soon. I'm hoping that this little one now will take up residence and let us peek in on its life cycle (which of course we'd love to chronicle). If we can do it, you'll be sure to see more ....
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.
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). 
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.
