I especially envy the hibiscus, have tired several varieties, they winter just fine and grow vigorously, though even during the hottest of summers experienced, bud development is excruciating slow and only deciding to begin opening as September gives away to October, then it's too cool and frost around the corner ... I wonder if plants might possibly be daylength sensitive and do not respond well to my LONG hours of mid summer sunshine?

Good work with the wisteria as well, gives me a double dose of envy! :)

FB - Are you growing Hibiscus moscheutos? They are very late to ’wake up’ in spring here - usually not until late May but start blooming in late July. When they get cut down in the fall, I usually leave ~4” of stems so I won’t forget where they are! I gather that some tropical types usually grown as annuals are daylength sensitive so maybe what you’ve got is some sort of hybrid…?

(Why did my text switch to bold font and how do I change it back?!)

Woody, if you had possibly copied and pasted the word Hibiscus moscheutos, then font size will continue as the same size as the pasted word. Sometimes, also I've pasted sentences or paragraphs into an email and it has totally thrown out, fractured and fragmented the sentence structure, frustrating!

It has been the perennial moscheutos types I've grown, some were tucked up against the south foundation wall and coming up decently early as do the buddleia, the latter though flowering mid summer (blooming now actually) and finishing up before frost. While the hibiscus grow and develop very normally, they just refuse to bloom in normal time, I've tried about five different varieties over time and allowing them a good four years to develop, but still only ever had gotten a mere few blooms, I give up!

You're right re the cut-and-paste for the botanical name.... Very frustrating that it changed the font for the rest of the post and I couldn't figure out how to change it back!

I remember seeing a lot of red tones in your garden pictures....(?) Have you been trying to grow red hibiscuses? In my garden, the red ones start a few weeks later than the pink ones and bloom into October, although I also have had a couple of buds produced in early November if conditions are mild enough! It seems to me that, looking at the leaves (see first picture below), there must be two foundational species so maybe the one that contributed heavily to the red flowers also contributes to later blooming times.

Most of my pink ones are either a 'Disco Belle' (?) or seedlings grown from it - like all seedlings, a few do not look much like the parent plant and I have one that has much larger flowers of a deep pink plus one that has smaller flower, a paler pink color and no 'eye'.

They all grow easily from seed. If you'd like to try any pink one, send me a message through Houzz to tell me where to send the seed capsules. I don't deadhead the capsules until mid Sept....

Deep pink 'child'

Mother and child :-)

Child, no 'eye'

Midnight Marvel Sept. 28 2014

Fireball Aug. 27 2014

I also find that some hardy hibiscus are consistently later than others to bloom, although mine are all pink of some sort. I wish I had the space to do a comparison of many in similar conditions.

I have 'Summer Storm', 'Perfect Storm' and 'Pink Elephant' in the same conditions, and they always bloom in that order, with a week or more between starts. A neighbor has a light white/pink (possibly a 'Disco Belle') that always starts a week ahead of any of mine.

Woody, I do have a lot of warm tones in my garden, rudbeckia making up a vast swath of color, then there's the pink, red and almost black hollyhocks, a few red roses and tall salmon colored 'Windsor' phlox being is a real show off, most phlox varieties pale in comparison to its lengthy display! I have plenty of annuals as well! Had tried a perennial red hibiscus, and yes, it was bust for being very late flowering. Thank you for all the photos, it demonstrates of the plants diverse genetics. I once had read an interesting article mentioning of the several American species utilized in breeding. I'd be happy to arrange for an exchange of seed collected from your very earliest of flowering plants, then fun to see how they might respond in my northern neck of the woods!

Ruth, thanks for chiming in ... okay yes, 'Pink Elephant' was one I had grown and only had gotten to see a single bloom before frost. Here, a few weeks can make a significant difference in a plant really being able to show its worth or being something marked to be hauled off to the compost!

FB - I will save the seed capsules from the early ones (the pale pink ones with the dark pink ’eye’) and send them to you - likely in September sometime which is when I usually deadhead them as all the hibiscuses bloom well through August. It will be interesting to see how they do in your conditions… Do you see anyone growing them near you? (Don’t forget to message me to tell me where to send the seed capsules.)

Other than myself, I've never seen these plants flowering here, never mind anyone even growing them ... but, neither have I seen buddleia, that "IF" positioned correctly will thrive, mine are tucked against the south foundation wall and 'Black Knight' and 'Royal Red' are currently waving their blooms outside the window. Indeed, I'll message you shortly and just might have some interesting seeds to tempt in return :)

I look forward to hearing from you and hope these seeds will work for you - they are great late-summer flowers here so I hope they will work for you too :-) No need to tempt me with seeds :-) I’d preferto enjoy them in your pictures :-) We are at the point where we are starting to try to downsize the garden as we age so are happy to find homes for plants that give us pleasure while trying to control our impulses to add new plants!

Hi Woody, there appears to be a glitch with the Houzz messaging system, within my sent folder is the Aug 5 th message I had placed to you, though apparently never making it's way to your inbox. Today, I again have replied, but still nothing has been received? I've used messaging in the past without issue, I guess now there's some frayed fiber optic lines between Alberta and Ontario, LOL. :)

I wonered if something like that was happening…! How do we exchange messages without making our email adresses broadly public?! Does Rouge have you email (he has mine) so that he could be the means of exchange if he doesn’t mind….? I’ll look again tosee if i can find your message coming in…

FrozeBudd -I just got your message with a time of 1:53 on it but there was nothing before that other than a message from someone in 2018!

FB - I just emailed Rouge so hopefully I'll be in touch with you soon....

How water hungry are the hibiscus? I am having a bit of a rethink after a horrible year but nearly all the mallow types are doing really quite well, despite no rain for months and months. Sphaeralcea, althea cannabina, sidalcea, abutilons have all done quite well so thinking I may finally attempt some of the larger hibiscus (not the syriacus though because they just get too big). I don't mind watering to establish but I am trying to be more water-wise across the garden and allotment.

I don't grow wisteria (no room) but I have a lot of love for indigofera ambleyensis - a continual bloomer for months).