Rainbow Sherbet

[Charlie]

Rainbow Sherbet is such a pretty flower, and so well presented on a gorgeous bush that she is bound to become a favorite of many hibiscus enthusiasts. Only available in limited numbers in 2008, we will have more of this well behaved variety in 2009. Easy to grow, strong and upright, 6-8 inch flowers that look even more dramatic in warm weather - what can I say, Rainbow Sherbet is one of our very best new cultivars! Anybody out there have one at flowering size yet?  We'd love to hear from you about your experiences with this new variety. Click on the thumbnail photos below to see the full size version of some pretty flowers of Rainbow Sherbet taken this fall.

Hibiscus dreams on a real wintry day (Thanksgiving '08)

Charlie

[roadrunner]

Rainbow Sherbert was purchased July of last year (4" size) and is already very impressive. First bloom was probably in early December and was a full 9 inches across and to say the least absolutely gorgeous. All subsequent blooms have been just as impressive and they've been consistently lasting 3 days. Many thanks to Cindy for her recommendation of this one when I was having trouble narrowing down my buy list. The plant is growing in a 1 gallon container inside the house for the winter near a south facing slightly tinted picture window. It shares this space with about a dozen other of these exotics, where my couch usually sits.   Good grief!  The plant is single stem 22 inches tall. I'm still having trouble willing myself to do the necessary early pinching.

Dave

[ronmcd]

How would one compare Rainbow Sherbert, Bon Temps, and Bridal Path in regards to flower size, color vibrancy, floriferousness (?), ease of growing in pots, etc? I live in San Jose, Ca and grow my cultivars in 2 gal plastic pots so I can move them to a protected area during the winter cold periods.

[Charlie]

Hey Ronmcd,

Good question as all 3 are in the same color range and all 3 make larger than average flowers. Bon Temps and Rainbow Sherbet both have exceptionally handsome bushes, with big green leaves and strong branches. Bon Temps probably grows largest of the 3. Bridal Path's bush is nice but has more stems and is slightly less upright. The flower size of all 3 is similar although Bridal Path can reach 10 inches while the others top out at about 9 inches in my location. Both Bridal Path and R. Sherbet are colorfast blooms while Bon Temps can fade to almost silver/white in hot direct sun. The colors hold up much better in shadier conditions. The main drawback with Bon Temps for us has been that the flowers sometimes remain fluted and do not open fully flat unless we help them manually. Bon Temps and Rainbow Sherbet are spider mite resistant while Bridal Path is about average. Any hibiscus can get spider mites but some of them resist damage and are slower to be colonized by mites, at least our mites here in California. Really, all 3 of these are excellent for either larger pots or planted in the garden. I would give Bon Temp some afternoon shade if possible so the flowers would hold their color longer.

Charles

[ronmcd]

Charlie, or Charles! Which do you prefer?

Thanks very much for the input. What do you consider a "larger pot". I've been using 2 gal plastic pots in which I have a Love Story, a Heart of My Heart, a High Voltage, a Fantasy Charm, and the Purple Crystal / Rainbow Christie that I mentioned in another post. I had some others which I lost in a quick freeze late last winter. I plan on adding some others this year, which brings up my next question. Considering that I keep my plants in pots, is it advisable that I wait for 2 gal availability in mid summer, or later? Or should I reserve them now in 6" pots? Can I reserve 2 gal plants, and if so do we know which ones will be available? I hope I haven't overstepped my boundaries in this subject.

In further testing the boundaries have you had a chance to read my post/question in the care discussions regarding using your fertilizer,booster, and potting soil for other tropical plants, especially Plumeria in 3 gal plastic pots?

I very much enjoy beautiful tropical plants, yours especially!

Thanks again, but please let me know if I should be doing this differently.

Ron

[Charlie]

Hi Ron, to answer the first question, my wife and friends call me Charlie. The rest of the world calls me Charles. I feel amongst friends here!

The plants shipped in 6 inch pots in the spring will be ready to be moved to larger pots shortly after receipt. They won't be as large or old as our normal 2 gallon plants but will grow rapidly to that size by the end of summer if transplanted to 2 gallon pots. We don't expect to have very many 2 gallon plants this year, just the occasional one here and there.  We've started some new 2 gallons but whether they will be ready this year or next I can't yet determine. Depends on the variety and how much pruning they need. My suggestion would be to order 6 inch plants now so you are sure to get the varieties you want, and then to check with us before shipping to see if any larger ones are available for substitution. We're happy to fine tune any orders as availability changes, just let us know. You can also use the "wish list" feature that Cindy maintains that is found at http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/pages/waitinglist.htm  This really works, Cindy keeps up with it. Thanks for the questions - we're more than happy to answer them

Charlie

[ronmcd]

Thanks "Charlie". A person with a passion such as your's is a good friend to have. I will order 6" plants now and check the 2 gal availability later in the year.

Ron

[kris]

Hey Charlie,

I have one that just reached flowersize, at about 8 inches it was covered in buds.  Sadly we had a bit of a cold snap and half the leaves and buds dropped off...Drats! Looks like its recovering well though, the only plant that has the same vigor as rainbow sherbet is valentines day, which has already grown over a foot in a few months.  Im hoping to get flowers soon, ill keep you posted on how they do here in the antelope valley.  The prelims are good. 

[Charlie]

Hi Kris, thanks for the comments about Rainbow Sherbet. I love the way this one grows. You might consider pruning the branches that lost leaves about 1/3 to 1/2 back as this will result is a fuller, more beautiful plant that has more flowers. If you do it soon - say in mid to late February - you will also have even more flowers by mid-summer. When pruning it is best to allow some leaves to remain below the cuts or to cut one branch and when it starts to leaf out then cut the other branches. Sometimes if you cut back the entire hibiscus and no leaves are left it will not be able to generate enough energy to come back. In warm weather with an active growing hibiscus that is rarely a problem but a semi-dormant hibiscus in cool conditions is more at risk.

So far this winter has been kind to us, and only another month to go before we should be out of freeze danger in my area. Unfortunately much of southern California is in that area where we can overwinter our hibiscus outside but it is still cold enough to cause them to lose leaves and suffer tip dieback. They usually come back and look fine by summer but if you can provide any extra warmth it can help. Cindy and I have set up our house so that we can have several dozen hibiscus indoors near windows all winter and really enjoy the sea of green and the flowers that they make all through the winter.

Welcome to the forum!

Charlie

[kris]

Rainbow sherbert just bloomed for me today, beautiful pastel colors and about 6 inches across.  I cant wait to see the flowers later in the season!

[kris]

I also wanted to mention how awesome the foliage is on this CV.  It is almost unreal how large and nicely shaped the leaves are.  On my plant they are almost 7 inches across and the flowers are just the icing on the cake  This variety looks awesome even when not blooming.  This cv is really shaping up to being one of my favorites as well.   

[helixturnhelix]

Hi charlie,

who were Rainbow Sherbet's parents?

-chris

[Charlie]

Kris, Rainbow Sherbert is a "lost tag" variety. sigh......................

Tagging seedlings is one of the weak links in the process. There are so many that do not make it past germination and usually the growing process involves at least 2 transplants before 1st flower comes which takes a year or longer in most cases. This has always meant that hybridizers use the convenience of stick tags that they can write on and stick in the pot. It is easier than you might think for such a tag to get lost or even fade before 1st flower comes. Last year I finally switched to using the type of tags we put on the plants we ship. These are slip and lock tags that won't come off the plant and do not fade. It means typing the cross and number on a computer so there is a lot more work involved (considering we throw 90 percent of seedlings away) but I finally decided it was worth it not to have cases like Rainbow Sherbert in which the tag was lost.

From the looks and performance of the cv I can make the educated guess that it comes from the many crosses made with The Path. The Path was my best seller for the first 5 years we were online - it seems those colors are almost universally appealing to men and women, young and old, etc. A photo of The Path is below.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

You can see the family resemblance   I have already experienced the fading of tags, I have three on Belle du Jour that faded, so they will be Belle du Jour x Unknown.

[Charlie]

Ahh, Chris, you joined the UNK club eh? Happens to everyone despite best intentions. Sometimes you can be almost certain of the other parent based on the qualities of the seedling combined with knowing what other varieties you likely had blooming at the time the cross was made. Lots of other times there's just not enough info to even guess.

Charlie