I can't give you the obvious that you could otherwise get from the Internet, and I have only grown them as potted plants on the patio in the summer--letting them fail in the winter season here in Oklahoma.

But, having grown up in San Diego and having gone to Junior High School right next to the San Diego Zoo I can relate an interesting anecdote regarding Hibiscus:

Monkeys love to eat hibiscus flowers. Around the zoo there were lots of large if not huge hibiscus shrubs that some of the keepers would trim and give to the monkeys. The monkeys loved the blossoms almost as much as they loved marshmallows, which the zoo keepers frowned upon because they were so unhealthy for them (the marshmallows, not the hibiscus flowers). In India, where the hibiscus are native, the monkeys eat the blossoms as they grow in the wild.

Only many, many years later did I find out that Roselle tea (also marketed and blended with other teas as "Red Zinger" by one tea company) is made from Hibiscus (___ sabdariffa) blossoms. You can also get the "real McCoy"--if that's the right way to put it--from Ten Ren Tea in San Francisco or on the web.

I would love to hear about hibiscus that is hardy around here.

Good luck with your gift!

Robert

Here is a link that might be useful: Roselle [Hibiscus] Tea

I'm not a big fan over over potting things. Think that is one of the reasons people struggle with container growing. I prefer to bump a plant up more often than over potting.

Over potted plants will rot in this weather because the soil won't dry out.

A mix that works well for container growing would be defined as "Any mix that when squeezed into the palm of your hand when the mix is soaking wet and does not form a ball is good stuff." What you use to get there is up to you. Commercial tree farms use a lot of composted fine pine bark. It is about 45-50% of my mix.

Hardy hibiscus seed need to be stratified or cold stored.

During the summer when my tropical hibiscus is kicking out a lot of blooms, they get collected and dried. I like hibiscus tea.

randy

Now, know that I LOVE tropical hibiscus, but, they die here in the winter. BUT here is how we can have the hibiscus here and is highly underrated in my humble opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_syriacus

Game Bird,

I'd plant it in the largest pot and use the Miracle Grow potting soil to ensure good drainage since tropicals often need good drainage. I've grown tropical hibiscus in pots quite often over the years and they do just fine in them.

With the hardy hibiscus, cold stratification does not seem to be strictly required because I've saved seeds and grown them in the past and got decent germination and I did not keep them in cold storage or otherwise cold stratify them. I don't direct sow them because they are often slow to germinate and tend to rot in wet, cold soil before they can sprout.

I soak my hardy hibiscus seeds in water for 24 hours before planting and then sow them inside in flats filled with a sterile, soil-less, seed-starting medium. If pre-soaked they usually germinate within a couple of weeks, although some can take up to a couple of months.

From seed, I've raised several of the common swamp mallows (aka rose mallow or hardy hibiscus), including the white ones with red eyes, the pink-flowered ones, and at least one red-flowered variety. I do have a hard time keeping them alive here because our place was once a farm where cotton was grown and we have cotton root rot in our soil and they are very susceptible to it. So, I don't grow as many of them as I used to because the cotton root rot gets them every so often.

I also have grown Texas Red Star hardy hibiscus, which is short-lived in our soils but did produce viable seed one year. Another hardy hibiscus that grows extremely well for me is Halberd-leaf Hibiscus (H. militaris) although Heartleaf Hibiscus (H. cardiophyllus) has done almost as well although it is more short-lived in our clay soil.

From seed, I've also grown the annual Red Shield hibiscus (H. eetveldeanus 'Red Shield') which is mostly grow for its reddish-maroon foliage although it does eventually produce very small flowers and some of the more common large flowered garden ones like Disco Belle and Dixie Belle. This year instead of Red Shield I planted annual Haight-Asbury (H. acetellosa, I think, though unsure of the spelling), but I didn't grow those from seed as they are (I think) hybrids. I didn't cold statify any of the various ones grown from seed over the years, but the seeds I purchased commercially probably were kept in cold storage after harvest by the wholesaler, so that would have cold stratified them.

I haven't grown the hardy hibiscus commonly referred as Confederate Rose (H. mutabilis) from seed, so if that's the one you're growing, I don't know if it needs cold stratification.

Robert,

All the types of hardy hibiscus grow pretty well here, especially if grown in well-drained soil, and especially if NOT planted in soil contaminated by cotton root rot. (However, I have to work with what I have, so I plant into the cotton root rot soil anyway.)

I think the ones in the swamp mallow family (H. moschuetos) are the easiest from seed and they are the ones that come back most reliably for me, but the Halberd-leaf, Texas Star and Red Shield (an annual one, but sometimes it comes back after a very mild winter) all grow well here. I haven't tried Confederate Rose but lots of folks grow it here in southern OK too.

Dawn

Thanks, Dawn, for that info.

Knowing that I'll put some out in the yard and mulch them well this coming winter. They really are beautiful bushes.

So one vote for potting up to the 2 gallon size and one vote for the five gallon. For soil, I think I'll go with mostly Miracle Gro and maybe a bit of the mulch/dirt mix since it doesn't clump together when wet.

Game Bird,

I always tend to pot up into a larger pot because I do mixed plantings.....so, if I have a tropical hibiscus in a 5 gallon pot, it probably will have at least three other plants in there with it....and at least one of them will be a trailing plant (often an ornamental sweet potato) that will hang over the edges of the pot and shade it as the summer goes on (the pots are on a concrete patio that faces west), one will be a spiky plant and the third will be whatever strikes my fancy. I make my own soilless potting mix and I make one that drains very well, and I don't necessarily water every day unless I have to.

You have to do what seems best for your plant. Usually, when I am selecting a tropical hibiscus, I look at the roots. If the purchased plant has a very large (but healthy, not too constricted or encircling) root ball (in comparison to the amount of soil in the container it comes in), I feel more comfortable putting it in a larger pot that has several plants mixed together. If it has a smaller root ball in comparison to the soil in the pot, I tend to put it back and look for one with more well-developed roots. I like mixed plantings in containers and don't do single plants in a container so I go with a larger container than Randy would. Randy is the topical expert here, so you know his advice is sound and I seldom, if ever, disagree with Randy and I always respect his advice. I'm not disagreeing with him now. His advice is technically correct, but I just choose to do it differently and, in this instance, it works for me. The only way to learn what will work for you is to try one method and see if it works. If it doesn't, then try another.

The only time a 5-gallon container hasn't worked for my container plantings was the year I tried Miracle Grow Moisture Control. The moisture control formula held too much moisture and all my plants suffered. I haven't used it since.

Dawn

Ah! Adding other plants... I have some rose moss that trails well, or at least the lady who gave it to me said it loved to trail out of containers. I hadn't thought of that. I'll give it a go after I see what condition the roots are in. I haven't looked yet. My attempts to start petunias haven't gone well. I only have three or four tiny plants that are to fill up a hanging basket. I suspect they will do so eventually. Oh! But the nasturtiums have done well. I have 20-25 of them coming up around my parsley. Perhaps I could transplant a couple of them...

Multiple planting is a nice way to utilize a large container if you are into those things. :-)

I guess the bonsai freak in me loves smaller proportion of pot to plant ratio. Also makes them easier to move around.

Bananas and brugs are about the only plants I like to put in large containers. Does make them more stable in the wind.

Good luck with your hibiscus.

randy

Hi Y'all,

I have a odd twist to add about the mixed plantings too.

You know I live here in the Oklahoma outback where the wild critters patrol the yard and garden nightly (sometimes even before nightfall) looking for munchies.

When I have one single plant in a container, it will be devoured in no time. Sometimes it is eaten by deer, sometimes by rabbits, sometimes by grasshoppers, sometimes by something else. When I mix plantings, they are much, much less likely to be eaten by anything. I don't know why, but it works.

Randy, I have been moving my brugs up to larger pots every year and it does make them more stable in the wind, but sometimes the wind still gets them here. It is very frustrating. Last year was the first time I added plants to the soil at the base of the brugs, and I liked the way it looked. In fact, the plants ('Black Pearl' ornamental pepper and dusty miller) survived the winter in the pots in the garage. The peppers died to the ground but came back.

I have three new brug varieties this year and they started small (3" pots) and are growing rapidly. I will step them up from one pot size to another in the proper method until they get bigger. I love my brugs too much to risk putting them into a pot that is too big right off the bat. : )

Dawn

I grow this hardy hibiscus. I grew it from seed gathered at a relative's house. Hardy hibiscus comes up late. In fact it is just now starting to grow in my yard. I don't remember doing anything special to make the seeds grow. I did start them off in a pot, but they were much happier in the ground.

{{gwi:226590}}
June, 2006

Lisa,

That's a gorgeous one. The vitex behind it looks great too.

My red-flowered hardy hibiscus are just now starting to emerge from the ground too. The white ones are about 18" tall. I think I saw the first red sprouts a couple of weeks ago, but with the lack of sunshine, they've hardly grown at all. Since they are apparently going to have a full day of sun today (yippee!), maybe the poor sprouts will get with it and grow more quickly now. So far, they are underachieving.

Dawn

Lisa,
That is beautiful!

Thanks :)

That is also my poppy/larkspur section. Since poppies are so early and the hibiscus late, I can reuse the spot!

Lisa

Do you cut the Hibiscus back to the ground in the fall?

Yes, the top part dies back after a frost/freeze, so I usually cut it back just to neaten it up.

I also discovered that if I will cut it back by half before it flowers that the plant will not get so sprawley.

Lisa