March Flowers of the Day

[Charlie]

I know you have used alot of Australian CVs (Gwen Marie and Rosalind) to hybridize, but have you used any Hawaiian Cvs?  I understand that there are few CVs from Hawaii that were developed using their native plants. 

Chris, the contribution of Hawaiian native hibiscus species is interesting to consider. In the article I wrote about the origin of blue and brown colors for the March Newsletter I described the 1913 Bulletin written in Hawaii about the hybridization done there over the first decade of the 20th Century. This is when Hawaiian native species entered the genetic composition of hibiscus. The Bulletin reports on almost 1000 new hybrids created by crossing imported hybrids with both each other and with Hawaiian natives such as H. arnottianus. The results were quite spectacular relative to the hibiscus people were accustomed to at the time.

Since then many of the Hawaiian hybrids were sent around the world including to Australia and the US where they were used to create even more hybrids. Unfortunately, other than the 1913 Bulletin almost no records exist of the hybridization of hibiscus from 1900 to 1950. By that time the use of the same name for different new hybrids was a major irritant to people involved with hibiscus and so the American Hibiscus Society was formed with the primary task of developing a nomenclature that would keep track of names and record information about each hybrid.

Without records for the first half of the 20th Century we cannot trace the contribution of Hawaiian native species to the hybrids created in the main centers of such work in Florida and Australia but there is little doubt that the genes of HI species run through many of the lineages of modern hibiscus.

Of interest, this does not appear to be the case with many of the European hybrids that were developed from hibiscus species brought back to Europe from Asia and the east coast of Africa. These European varieties were developed to be small potted plants used in houses and greenhouses and are characterized by an abundance of small, simple blooms, good vigor, and ease of propagation.

Eventually techniques that study the genes of hibiscus may be able to unravel more about the origins of today's hybrids.

As for my own hybridizing I'm not inclined to go backwards to Hawaiian native species due to the many traits that are considered flaws today. I enjoy growing some of the species for what they do bring but hybridizing with them is not likely to have many benefits and will for sure recreate many problems we have already made a lot of progress eliminating.

Charlie

[Charlie]

Hi Manekineko,

Thanks for your photos. Do you live in Japan? Most of these varieties are ones that I sent to Japan several years ago, except for May Way and Mary Poppins. It is so nice to see "old friends" still blooming in whatever part of the world they are growing.

Charlie

[Manekineko]

Charlie, thank you for good words!
I live in Ukraine. Manekineko, as well as hibiscuses conquer weigh the world. Now an order is organized in Ukraine on hibiscuses and we very hope to get novelties from you.

[Charlie]

Ahhh, the Ukraine. Yes, we are sending several hundred plants there later this spring. I am so glad to see the hibiscus flowers reaching so many parts of the world now. Thanks for showing us yours.

Charlie

[Pachrian]

Hi everyone!
 
Since I'm new to this forum I thought I'd introduce myself real quick. My name is Uli (like Julie without the "J") and I live in Orange County, CA. I currently have 7 different CV's and am anxiously awaiting this spring's shipment of more. Space is an issue for me. I have a small, south facing front yard which gets VERY hot when the sun's out. Even though I'm always worried about somebody "accidentally walking off" with my pots, this is where my hibiscus spend the winter. I just moved them in the backyard, as I finally get some sunlight there again, and I feel much safer (plus the plants don't get roasted during the midday hours)

I'll try to attach some pics of yesterday's Fallen Hero bloom just before the sun disappeared again for the day. Enjoy!

~Uli

[Nievesgirl]

Hi everyone!
 
Since I'm new to this forum I thought I'd introduce myself real quick. My name is Uli (like Julie without the "J") and I live in Orange County, CA. I currently have 7 different CV's and am anxiously awaiting this spring's shipment of more. Space is an issue for me. I have a small, south facing front yard which gets VERY hot when the sun's out. Even though I'm always worried about somebody "accidentally walking off" with my pots, this is where my hibiscus spend the winter. I just moved them in the backyard, as I finally get some sunlight there again, and I feel much safer (plus the plants don't get roasted during the midday hours)

I'll try to attach some pics of yesterday's Fallen Hero bloom just before the sun disappeared again for the day. Enjoy!

~Uli

Hi Uli I live in so cal also ! I hope you enjoy this forum as much as I do

[helixturnhelix]

I know how Charlie likes those pics with snow in the background... here is flickering flame

[Charlie]

Amazing!  These snow pics are classics! Nobody ever sent us any snowy hibiscus photos before this year.

You seem to be having a lot of different cvs bloom now. Are there some you have yet to see?

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

There are still a few that havent bloomed for me yet,  I still haven't seen Dragon's Heart, Byron Metts and Living Legend bloom yet.  Dragon's Heart is forming buds so I hope to see it bloom soon!  I pruned my bigger bushes (Saffron, Belle, Bonnie Lass, Acapulco Gold)  and they all have lots of branches forming.  They should look really great by May/June when they can go outside! 

A question about Flickering Flame:  Does it branch readily or does it need some help with pruning.  The plant itself looks really terrible, two long branches, and now that I finally saw it bloom I was going to trim it so that I could get a bushier plant. 

[Charlie]

Want to see what I did to my prize Saffron plant that has been in our garden for the last several years? The first photo below is what it looked like at the beginning of November, 2009. Quite a glorious sight! Then out came the pruners and off came a lot of good wood. The second photo shows what it looks like right now, not much different than the day it was pruned. The third photo is a close up of some of the surviving branches, which shows the new growth that came out in the weeks after it was pruned. This growth, which is all over the plant, hardened up and withstood the southern California winter quite well even though it did not grow over half and inch or so.

I plan to take monthly photos this spring and summer and expect this plant to end up in November looking as good or better as it did in the first photo. This is the second time I have pruned it this severely, the first being in fall of 2008 after which it grew and grew until it became the flowering specimen seen in the first photo. Anyway, we shall see what happens this year as the summer progresses.

Charlie

[Charlie]

Chris, I would definitely cut back Flickering Flame. That variety can make one of the prettiest of bushes, with lush dark green leaves and a nice full look.

You still have some treats to look forward to with new blooms then!

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

Wow Charlie,

Your Saffron really gets going after a heavy prune!  I am looking forward to a lush bush later in the summer.  I will take your advice and trim back Flickering Flame, it is a very nice flower and I really am going to look forward to a nice flowering bush!  I think normally I would have had these CVs bloom by now, but they've had a few setbacks this year.  First moving Stress, then I had those white flies and that in turn gave them terrible spider mites.   Most are pruned back with new growth and it was really nice earlier in the week that I went ahead and trimmed the roots and gave my bigger plants new soil.  I also transplanted Dragons Heart into a new 10' pot, so its going to get going anytime now.  It already has several branches, so I am expecting it to bloom alot.  The bush is great on this one too,  reminds me alot of parent HOMH. 

[Nievesgirl]

Simple pleasure's first bloom for me

[lubise]

hi charlie, how do you do ?...i'm glad, finally i can find more information about hibiscus, trough  hvh. i'm from Indonesia. i attracted to have some of variety of hibiscus that you offer in you galleries. but the problem is, i live so far from your place. so, maybe if it possible, can i buy your hibiscus plat by the seed. you know, it's more easier for shipment. and if it's possible, how to have it and how much the price ? thanks you...i hope it can be cheap.......thank you very much, to all hvh forum member,....greeting from indonesia...........

[davidwood]

Is Safron red or orange?.In the photo above it loks Red yet described in the gallery its orange. I am trying to avoid buying more reds and pinks as i now have quite a few and am on the e-mail waiting list for Safron.