Hibiscus as Houseplants

The photos on this page speak for themselves. Hibiscus beautify any room they are in. A warm, sunny window is all they need to grow, thrive, and bloom. Some of the hibiscus with smaller blooms are very prolific and bloom continuously for months at a time if given a good fertilizer with plenty of potassium. Add a fountain, some artwork, a small sculpture - anything artistic at all will complement the natural grace and elegance of these amazing flowers. Even during the times when they're not blooming, the greenery of the hibiscus bushes is as beautiful as any houseplant grown just for greenery. But the moment the blooms begin, the magic begins. Beware though! Hibiscus indoors are as addictive as hibiscus outdoors or in a greenhouse. Still, the beauty is unsurpassable, and the pleasure of creating a lovely environment with such incredible living things is a hobby that's hard to beat.

Hibiscus grown indoors need a good fertilizer with a very high potassium content and a lower phosphorous content. We recommend using our HVH Special Fertilizer along with our Hibiscus Booster to provide your plants the nutrients they need to thrive as houseplants. The flowers will tend to be a bit smaller when grown indoors, and the colors may be different too, depending on the variety. But with the proper fertilization, the colors will still be bright and beautiful, and the flowers will still be amazingly big and impressive.

The sunnier the window, the better for hibiscus. Most thrive in hot, sunny, south or west windows, the kind that only cactus can usually take inside a house, but some do better in less sunny windows. The picture below is a northwest-facing window that is bright, but doesn't get any direct sunlight in the winter months. This photo was taken in November, and although the flowers were not profuse, they were certainly beautiful and impressive enough for any home.

Interestingly enough, some of the smaller, plainer hibiscus seem to thrive inside a house. If you have a potted hibiscus outside that seems lost in a big yard, consider bringing it inside where it can shine and dazzle with its more petite colors and effects. HVH is beginning to develop and test more "mini" hibiscus strains that will flourish in an indoor setting. The prolific orange hibiscus in the top photo, and at right in the bottom photo, is one of these new varieties. At first rejected by HVH for its smallness and plainness outside, once brought inside, it took on whole new possibilities, and is showing signs of being one of our most prolific inside flowers. Over the next few years, HVH will be developing even more new hibiscus specifically for indoor use.

When it's time to decide where to put your houseplants, what windows to use... just experiment. Try your hibiscus in different windows until you find the window that each one seems to thrive in. As a general rule, it appears that the brightest red, orange, and yellow flowers tend to thrive in very sunny, southern windows. The blues, browns, and pinks seem to like some direct sunlight, but not all day in a hot sunny window. As we learn more about growing hibiscus as houseplants, we'll offer more and more information on our website about which hibiscus do best in which kinds of windows. Here is a preliminary list from our initial experiments: