Renaissance Blue

[Darkhorse]

This looks to be a good cv from reading on the HVH website.  Anybody else have experience with it?  It also looks to be good for crossing, so I've put it on my wishlist.  Charlie, are there any more of these on the way for later on this year?

[Nievesgirl]

Darkhorse I believe I put my self on the waiting list for this cultivar also. I hope there will be some for sale soon.  I was about to ask about this plant last week but with all these beautiful flowers I forget which ones I want  .

[Charlie]

Renaissance Blue is similar to Voodoo Magic in some ways. Not surprising since RB is the parent of V Magic. Both branch really well at a small size, and since each branch makes buds they both end up blooming a lot. Renaissance Blue flowers vary a great deal according to temperature but I enjoy all the different colors and looks it shows. It does not set seed well but makes plenty of good pollen for making crosses.

The supply problem with Renaissance Blue is due to me inadvertently letting the stock plant number decline and then selling off all the new plants to people who requested them. Sometimes you just have to hold off on shipping a variety so the stock to take cuttings from can grow. It's hard to do because we really like to get each variety out there as much as possible.

So yes there will be a few plants available this year, and I hope to have more in future years.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

Thats good news ! well I hope I do get one. I contacted another hibiscus vendor and the told me something very opposite of what you state about RB cultivar. They told me this cultivar does not bloom. I was kind of shocked that they said this. Seeing that I listed this cultivar on my wish list for being one of your good plants.

[Charlie]

Hi Nievesgirl,

After awhile you will notice that there is a lot of nonsense bandied about in the hibiscus world. One person says something and it is picked up on by others who repeat it and soon it is widely believed. I had to "unlearn" quite a bit of what I heard on the hibiscus mail lists the first few years I participated as I grew more plants and learned more real-life lessons.

One of the worst habits that hibiscus people have is drawing conclusions about hibiscus in general or one cultivar in particular based on their own experience with one individual plant. Grafted plants in particular can vary a lot in quality, but any hibiscus can perform poorly due to exposure to cold, disease, and so forth. The only way to really know about a variety is to grow several plants of it and to be realistic about whether they were exposed to cold or other stressors that might throw your observations off.

In any case whoever told you Renaissance Blue does not bloom is either misinformed or lying because they do not have the variety and would like to sell you a different one. The way Voodoo Magic buds up reminded me immediately of the way Renaissance Blue buds up which makes sense since VM is the offspring of Ren Blue.

Unfortunately I don't seem to have any bush photos of Ren Blue but found a pretty example of a full sun middle of summer version of an open flower on a bush taken by Gene Powell outside of Houston, TX where he grows a lot of hibiscus planted in the ground. You can see the buds behind the bloom.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

Hi Nievesgirl,

After awhile you will notice that there is a lot of nonsense bandied about in the hibiscus world. One person says something and it is picked up on by others who repeat it and soon it is widely believed. I had to "unlearn" quite a bit of what I heard on the hibiscus mail lists the first few years I participated as I grew more plants and learned more real-life lessons.

One of the worst habits that hibiscus people have is drawing conclusions about hibiscus in general or one cultivar in particular based on their own experience with one individual plant. Grafted plants in particular can vary a lot in quality, but any hibiscus can perform poorly due to exposure to cold, disease, and so forth. The only way to really know about a variety is to grow several plants of it and to be realistic about whether they were exposed to cold or other stressors that might throw your observations off.

In any case whoever told you Renaissance Blue does not bloom is either misinformed or lying because they do not have the variety and would like to sell you a different one. The way Voodoo Magic buds up reminded me immediately of the way Renaissance Blue buds up which makes sense since VM is the offspring of Ren Blue.

Unfortunately I don't seem to have any bush photos of Ren Blue but found a pretty example of a full sun middle of summer version of an open flower on a bush taken by Gene Powell outside of Houston, TX where he grows a lot of hibiscus planted in the ground. You can see the buds behind the bloom.

Charlie

I think you nailed it head on the vendor tells me about another cultivar that is better lol so I assume they A) did not know what they where talking about or B ) did not have the cultivar
I agree with you about the mail list , I am on one and some info that was given does not make sense to me since I experience something totally different from what others where saying.  I am a new seedling grower so i try to learn as much as I can but i am starting ti figure out what is working for me 

[Darkhorse]

I agree, there's a lot of BS thrown around.  I'm still really new to the hibiscus world and I'm trying to figure out what is fact and what has been 'elaborated' let's call it.  I only had one hib until earlier this year when I went crazy and bought about 20 of them... haha... so this summer is going to be my first real learning experience.

[helixturnhelix]

Wow 21 hibs!  Which ones do you have?  I wonder how many you will have before HVH stops taking orders due to weather.  I feel like I have too many! My collection currently includes:

Black Dragon
Bonnie Lass
Cinnamon Girl
Blue Ballerina
Acapulco Gold
Tigerama
Saffron
Belle du Jour
Living Legend
White Lightning 
Rockets red glare

I still have some catching up to do!  This all started with a grocery store variety 'mandarin wind' (died last winter)... Good grief

Thanks for the suggestions on doubles, I think I settled on either Anasazi Maiden or Island Queen,  if Love Story or Heaven Scent aren't going to be available.

[helixturnhelix]

Oops meant to post this under Best double

[Nievesgirl]

Wow 21 hibs!  Which ones do you have?  I wonder how many you will have before HVH stops taking orders due to weather.  I feel like I have too many! My collection currently includes:

Black Dragon
Bonnie Lass
Cinnamon Girl
Blue Ballerina
Acapulco Gold
Tigerama
Saffron
Belle du Jour
Living Legend
White Lightning 
Rockets red glare

I still have some catching up to do!  This all started with a grocery store variety 'mandarin wind' (died last winter)... Good grief

Thanks for the suggestions on doubles, I think I settled on either Anasazi Maiden or Island Queen,  if Love Story or Heaven Scent aren't going to be available.

Chris,
I have 6 plants and 17 seedlings lol  The 6 plants include

Lady bug
nightfire
gator pride
voodoo magic
Rocket's red glare
heartbreak hotel
I have my work cut out for me. I plan to buy 4-6 more before summer is over depends what is on my list that is available. I am about to make a stand on my balcony for all of them soon.

[Darkhorse]

Ok here goes, let's hope I don't forget anyone!
 
The big old Voodoo Magic I had last year died do to some weird thing I couldn't figure out, so just to be safe I bleached my entire porch, threw out all my other plants (non hibs, just random plants that were ugly anyway), and bleached all my pots.  So far, no more problems with the hibeys I have.

The list goes...

Acapulco Gold
Delta Dawn
Chariots of Fire
a new Voodoo Magic
Fifth Dimension
Silver Memories
Medicine Man
Persian Rug
Fiery Furnace
Devil's Eye
Island Girl
Saffron
Living Legend
Night Runner
Blueberry Thrill
Swamp Music
Black Dream
Creole Lady

as of this morning I have a Belle du Jour and a Gator Pride on the way

I also had a Funny Voodoo but it died


my want list (for now) includes:

Renaissance Blue
Heavy Metal
Heartbreak Hotel
Ivory Coast
another Funny Voodoo
Butter Pecan, maybe, I don't know much about it though


I think I have a problem... lol

[Nievesgirl]

Ok here goes, let's hope I don't forget anyone!
 
The big old Voodoo Magic I had last year died do to some weird thing I couldn't figure out, so just to be safe I bleached my entire porch, threw out all my other plants (non hibs, just random plants that were ugly anyway), and bleached all my pots.  So far, no more problems with the hibeys I have.

The list goes...

Acapulco Gold
Delta Dawn
Chariots of Fire
a new Voodoo Magic
Fifth Dimension
Silver Memories
Medicine Man
Persian Rug
Fiery Furnace
Devil's Eye
Island Girl
Saffron
Living Legend
Night Runner
Blueberry Thrill
Swamp Music
Black Dream
Creole Lady

as of this morning I have a Belle du Jour and a Gator Pride on the way

I also had a Funny Voodoo but it died


my want list (for now) includes:

Renaissance Blue
Heavy Metal
Heartbreak Hotel
Ivory Coast
another Funny Voodoo
Butter Pecan, maybe, I don't know much about it though


I think I have a problem... lol

All marked in red is what I am looking for.
My wish list is huge but here are the some of ones I am looking for from HVH.( mind you I have a huge list for HVH this is a small version)

Creme de la creme
Blue ballerina
dragon's breath
black dragon
wild dream
dark angel
renaissance blue

[helixturnhelix]

Haha you do have a problem! (I have one too)

I have heaven's scent, creme da la creme, vin extrodinaire, maid of honor and zulu warrior on my wish list.  AND most of those aren't even released yet >.<

[Nievesgirl]

Charles what are the parents of RB?

[Darkhorse]

Yeah I'm getting to the point of thinking I need to build a shelf on my balcony.  Kerry, Delta Dawn was the hardest for me to find.  I found it on Ebay actually. 

[Nievesgirl]

Yeah I'm getting to the point of thinking I need to build a shelf on my balcony.  Kerry, Delta Dawn was the hardest for me to find.  I found it on Ebay actually. 

I found someone selling most of dupont culitvars but these are small plants not in bloom yet.

I need one also look what I am using 


This the only plant stand I have

[Charlie]

How pretty the balcony looks! Nothing like blooming plants to add the finishing touch.

The parents of Renaissance Blue are Elderberry x Lora. This was one of my earlier seedlings, dating back to 1999 or thereabouts. Elderberry is a fairly large lavender/pink flower that sets seeds and was used a lot at one time. Lora is a little smaller but quite pretty. Both have good stout bushes that have to be grafted. Photos of them are below.

Charlie

[roadrunner]

I see that I'm not alone in being hooked on these incredible hibiscus. I also went totally crazy last year and I've already got more than I have space for with still several on my wish list. I have no idea how I'm going to overwinter them all as they get larger which is basically now.  Good grief!

Here's what I have at the moment (all in containers):

Acapulco Gold
Aztec Sun
Belle du Jour
Bluebird
Blonde Ambition
Bon Temps (new)
Bridal Path
Bubble Gum Fun
Cherry Appaloosa
Erin Rachel
Fantasy Charm
First Lady
Fragile Moment
Gold Mine
Gwen Mary
Heaven Scent
Heavy Metal
High Voltage
Lady Cilento
Lady in Waiting
Living Legend
Love Story
Magnifique
Over the Rainbow
Palm Springs
Passion Play (new)
Pina Colada
Rainbow Sherbet
Rosalind (new)
Saffron
Simple Pleasures
Sleeping Beauty (new)
Tamibon
Tangerine Dream

Dave

[Darkhorse]

Can Ren. Blue root on its own, or did it inherit the must-be-grafted quality from both parents?  To me, the Eldeberry bloom looks a lot like Blueberry Smoothie (another that I think is really pretty).  Amazing how RB resembles both of its parents in color, yet it has the ability to produce offspring so dramatically different from itself colorwise (i.e. Voodoo Magic).

Dave, wow, you've got a ton of hibs!  Right now I'm also having a space issue.  Most of my plants are still little, as I purchased them in 4" pots, but as they are gradually potted up I'm finding that my balcony is getting smaller and smaller...  I'm house hunting right now so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll find something before winter, as I need to put all these guys in a GH.  Otherwise they'll have to come live inside with me (20 hibs in a 700 sq ft. apt) lol!  Kerry the balcony looks nice.  Live plants definately brighten anything up.

[helixturnhelix]

Wow 20 hibs and 700 sq ft.  Maybe you should be looking at green houses  

[roadrunner]

Darkhorse, I also buy primarily in the 4" pot size. Only 3 were purchased in the 6" size, the latest being Rosalind. I'm really having space issues now as they have started getting much larger. I keep mine in a sort of greenhouse during the warmer time of the year, but they have to be overwintered inside the house which is small under 1200 sq ft.  My sort of greenhouse is on the northeast side of the house and is far too leaky to try heating in the winter. Here's an inside view of the greenhouse which is approx 7' by 11'.

That balcony does look great and check out some of the plant stands I'm using in the greenhouse.

I'd add Ren. Blue to my wish list as well as a few others mentioned here in the forum if I had any room left. I may anyway,   

Dave

[Darkhorse]

Wow Dave, your GH is pretty full.  Did you build it yourself?  When I actually have a backyard (hopefully within the next few months) I'm going to look into building one. 

I need to post some photos of my crazy hibiscus porch now... will try to take some tomorrow although it's also got a lot of junk on it due to limited space. 

[nina]

Hi, Charles,

Interesting what you say about RB and WM. I have both, both grafted last year in early spring. They behave very differently in my conditions. WM grows and blooms like crazy, I have made many small plants from my original two big ones, and those small ones bloom already,  while the original RB is still a small plant, with no buds.

But I do agree that no conclusions can be made on the basis of only one plant. When I manage to propagate it, I will know better.
My experience is also that tropical hibiscus is very sensitive to nuances of conditions. For instance, me and another person from my climate very often have very different results with the same cultivars, although our climate is the same. But, we use different fertilizers, different soil, we both have greenhouses but mine is more sunny, etc. So, the trick is to find the best conditions for a cultivar.  Very often, what is ideal for the majority of cultivars, is not good for the particular one.

[roadrunner]

Yes the greenhouse is unfortunately getting very full and several plants are still quite small so it is really going to get crowded as the summer progresses. It isn't a stand alone greenhouse, it is part of the laundry room. It was an addition to the laundry room by the previous owner. A friend helped me convert it to the sort of greenhouse as I call it since it isn't climate controled. For now it works out ok. If I had more room and money I'd consider doing it right.
I'd love to see some photos of your hibiscus porch as well as how other members of the forum display their collections. That might be a good topic to start.

Dave