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Author Topic: Where did it all start?  (Read 29483 times)
Pachrian

Posts: 266


Orange County, CA


« Reply #15 on: March 22, 2010, 04:47:55 PM »

I know this is an old thread, but I loved reading everyone's stories Smiley

Charlie, it is amazing how life sometimes takes completely unexpected turns. You are a lucky man, being surrounded by these beautiful flowers every day...what a dream!

I first noticed that there was such a thing as tropical hibiscus when I dropped my daughter off at her friend's house. Right by the front door was this huge bush with huge brownish flowers. I was stunned, all I had ever seen before were the ubiquitous garden varieties. So on the way back to my car I bent down and peeked at the plant label...hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com. As soon as I got home I went on the computer and checked out the website. WOW!!! Of course I placed my first order right away. And while I may not have as many varieties as I would like, I'm completely hooked. There's just nothing more relaxing than looking at perflect flowers after a stressful day.

On a side note, I love to photograph hummingbirds in flight too and have been quite successful. You can check out my pics here: http://UBSeng.zenfolio.com/p1063603244. Strangely enough, there's only one with a hibiscus, and it's my neighbor's plant  Roll Eyes
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~Uli
Charlie
Administrator
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Posts: 3646



« Reply #16 on: March 23, 2010, 05:02:14 AM »

Uli, your photos are wonderful! I photographed a hummingbird with hibiscus only once and it was pure luck. Thanks for sharing these, and the story of your discovery of exotic hibiscus.

Charlie
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helixturnhelix
Seattle, WA

Posts: 1945



« Reply #17 on: March 23, 2010, 06:43:47 AM »

Uli,

Those pics are awesome!  What shutter speed do you use to get the humming birds so that their wings aren't blurry?
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Pachrian

Posts: 266


Orange County, CA


« Reply #18 on: March 23, 2010, 09:17:38 AM »

Thanks Charlie and Chris. For hummers I use what I call my "4x4" settings: Canon 40D, 400mm lens, ISO 400, 1/400sec, (f5/6). Light high-sync fill flash and light shade does the trick.
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~Uli
Nievesgirl

Posts: 975


« Reply #19 on: March 23, 2010, 01:18:42 PM »

Uli those are great pics , your lucky to get the pictures I had bad luck hence my story lol

I will try again this summer at my aunt's house. I don't have a good lens for regular shooting , I just have my 105mm macro lens  Tongue
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~Kerry~
blupit007

Posts: 960



« Reply #20 on: September 23, 2010, 09:56:21 AM »

Great topic!   I have loved hibiscus forever.  I called them the "hula" flower.  I have had the plain red garden variety since I can remember in my early teens.  I got serious about photography in high school, and took up macro photography with flowers. 

I got married this July and my mother wanted us to have this personalized signature plate for all the gusts to sign.  The woman would paint flowers on the border along with your names and dates.  I asked her if she could do hibiscus instead of the flowers she usually painted.  She didn't know what they were so I said I would find a photo online for her and email it.  Upon doing this search, I came across one of those photo-shopped crazy looking hibiscus with blue, pink, yellow, purple, orange.....  You know the ones...  Well, my mouth fell open.  Hibiscus only came in red, yellow, and pink?  Right??  Well I started to browse the web and came across HVH.  I read every single page on their site.  I feel bad because we had company and I couldn't get away from the computer.  I was sucked in for life!!

I emailed a photo to the lady and continued to read HVH.  I placed an order for Bonnie Lass & Sleeping Beauty.   The BL & SB were not available so Cindy called me and asked what I would like instead.  I told her Cindy's Heart, Saffron, & Belle du Jour.  She searched the yard and found them and found one of each.  In the meantime, I went to a local tropical nursary (Logee's) which I just found out about this spring as well.  And there I bought a small Cajun Blue.  I also got so anxious and found another site and bought Voodoo Magic, City Slicker, & Gabriel. 

Over the summer my hibiscus collection grew and grew and I now have somewhere around 20.  Luckily they are all small still.  I even have had some seed pods of my own give me some seeds!

As for photography, I saw Uli's hummer photos and thought I would give it a try.  One day I came home around lunch time and found a hummer at my red hibiscus.  I grabbed my camera and started shooting.  Here is a couple of what I got!


* HummingBird1.jpg (215.73 KB, 1000x664 - viewed 752 times.)

* HummingBird2.jpg (199.78 KB, 1000x667 - viewed 785 times.)

* HummingBird3.jpg (191.12 KB, 1000x664 - viewed 796 times.)

* SignaturePlate.jpg (265.34 KB, 1000x980 - viewed 759 times.)
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-Kristen
Charlie
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Posts: 3646



« Reply #21 on: September 24, 2010, 06:00:04 AM »

Kristen, I love your hummingbird photos. Between you and Uli we may have enough good photos to set up a web page called "Hibiscus and Hummers". I have one photo to contribute to it, which was pure luck due to the long lag time that older digital cameras had after clicking the shutter button.

These stories about getting involved with hibiscus are so fun to hear. It always comes down to being captivated by the sheer beauty of the flowers plus enjoying the pleasures and pains of growing something. Thanks for sharing your story.

Charlie
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Doll

Posts: 1036


Houston, Texas


« Reply #22 on: September 24, 2010, 03:08:27 PM »

It all started for me back in 1977. I remember stumbling across 3 Albo Lacinatus trained as standards in 5 gallon pots. I bought all 3 and planted them in the pots in the ground mainly to keep them from blowing over. They soon just exploded with growth and blooms. It was normal to have 100 blooms per day between the 3. I was hooked. In winter I would just dig them up and cut them back hard. I had them for many years. One year it got extremely cold down to 10 degrees. The little heater I had in my 12x12 greenhouse didn't keep it warm enough and I lost everything.
I grew most of the common garden varieties:
Brilliant
Seminole
Painted Lady
Crown of Bohemia

I'm not sure when I first came across some exotic hibiscus. Some of the popular ones here in Houston were:
Pink Parasol
The Path
Norman Lear
Creole Flame

Whenever I visited a nursery I would check for a variety I didn't have. It truly becomes an addiction.
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I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could.
Charlie
Administrator
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Posts: 3646



« Reply #23 on: September 26, 2010, 03:43:18 AM »

Doll, you beat me to hibiscus by quite a few years. I was even living in Houston during the late 70's  but never saw any exotic hibiscus back then. I did grow The Path, Norman Lee, and Creole Flame some years later. The Path is the foundation variety for a number of our most popular hybrids.

Speaking of The Path, I was contacted several years ago by a man who told me he was the hybridizer of The Path and was very pleased that we were distributing so many of them through Zoes Tropicals in Florida. He told me of his struggles to raise a very large family and still find time for growing and hybridizing hibiscus. That's one of the interesting aspects of hybrid or exotic hibiscus - they were created by the efforts of hundreds of back yard grower/hybridizers over the last hundred years or so. A true labor of love.

Charlie
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Doll

Posts: 1036


Houston, Texas


« Reply #24 on: September 26, 2010, 05:04:22 AM »

You don't by any chance have any Creole Flame.
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I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could.
Citra

Posts: 2


« Reply #25 on: March 23, 2015, 10:52:08 PM »

Hi all,

I'm new here but this thread looks like a good place to start.

I've known hibiscus ever since I was a toddler, living on a town not far from equator line here in Indonesia.  At the house we were living, there is this huge Hibiscus tree as tall as the house (or as I remember it) with red mini flower that blooms all the time.  I didn't remember again about hibiscus but somehow as I grow up, I have always wanted a purple hibiscus.  I guess I've seen it somewhere and make a mental note about.

I was replanting my yard  a year ago and when the gardener asked what kind of plant that I want to have, I automatically ask for a purple hibiscus.  One thing led to another and I now have 6 different CV on my yard, and now I am really considering to change the concept of my yard from an Orangery (herbs varieties) to a Hibiscus Haven, we'll see in a couple years how it turned out.  I came to know HVH because my purple hibiscus is having problem blooming and I've got the answer here (thrips).  I was shocked to see how beautiful Exotic hibiscus here and somehow become even more hibiscus crazy.

One thing about living on tropical climate all the time, you tends to ignore the obvious flowering plant that is well suited here.  The Hibiscus here so common that people no longer considers it as a special plant that deserve a place in the garden.  Planting a Aglaonema or Anthurium is more hip than a Hibiscus (as my friend mentioned once: a goat's food).  All of my CV's are considered ancestors varieties only with different coloring.  So common that nobody bothered to hybridize it here, it's even hard to find it in nurseries here.  But hey, I love it!

I'll be looking for more guidance from this forum and thank you Cindy & Charles for starting this web that connects many of Hibiscus Lover a place to talk to one another.

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Kyle

Posts: 334



« Reply #26 on: June 25, 2015, 09:49:41 PM »

To determine where and how this all started for me I had to think about this for a bit because it goes way back into my childhood.   When I was child every year we had a vegetable garden during our short summer in Ohio.  When I wasn't playing baseball I was playing in the garden.  Every spring I would help my Father rototill the garden, plant and take care of it until the crop was ready to harvest.
When I was 13 my 1st job was at the local fruit stand picking tomatoes, vegies, and pumpkins in the fields.   It was a fun job that paid under the table and I also learned how to grow fruits and vegies from the Farmers.
After my 1st year in high school, my Father accepted a promotion in which we packed up and moved to North Palm Beach in SE FL.   Every since I could remember my Mother had a gardenia tree that she kept in a 5 gallon pot when we lived in Ohio.   During the summer she would set it outside and it would bloom with these wonderful smelling flowers.   During the winter she brought it inside the porch where it would go dormant until the next summer.   Over the years the gardenia declined and we saw less and less blooms over the summers.   
By the time we moved to FL.  the same gardenia in the 5 gallon pot was practically a dead tree.
For some reason my Mom brought the gardenia down to FL when we moved.   One of the 1st things we did plant wise in FL was we transplanted the gardenia out of the pot and into the ground facing South just outside our lanai pool area.    In 1 years time, the same gardenia that did poorly in Ohio went absolutely crazy down in FL. and it grew very big as it was constantly blooming next to the jasmine we planted.   
When we moved to FL I was fascinated with the plant life and how well things grew in FL.    I fell in love with palm trees as I learned about many different types of palms including my favorites the Royal Palm and the Canary Palm.
When we dug the hole in FL for the gardenia we realized that below the crab grass is nothing but sand in the ground.  In FL there in no soil/dirt, the only thing in the ground was  light grey sand and fossilized sea life.   Everything in our yard in FL was planted directly into the sand and it did very well for us.   In FL the sun makes up many things.   We had hibiscus planted in sandy ground and they bloomed like crazy!  Root rot was never a problem since sand drains well.
In the front of our house, we had 2 hibiscus trees that were planted in the sand.    They were 6-7 feet tall when we moved into the house.   In just a few years those 2 hibiscus trees grew  over 12 feet tall and were taller than the house.    The type of hibiscus trees we had were a light pink garden variety but they bloomed and bloomed and never stopped all year round.
We could not believe how well our hibiscus and perennial's grew into the sandy ground.   They were watered daily from the rain and or sprinkler/drip system but with no fertilizer.  We never fertilized the hibiscus trees but occasionally the landscapers would spray them with magnesium to help green them up.    One day we noticed our hibiscus trees were completely covered in green aphids and I started to learn about pest including mites in FL.    We  sprayed them ourselves with soapy water and it cleared the aphids right up and they were back to blooming with as many as 50 flowers at 1 time.
My time in FL was short but I loved every minute of it working as the head lifeguard at the Jupiter Island Beach Club, teaching swimming lessons, and surfing when ever there were waves (that wasn't often).

Unfortunately my Dad's job changed around again and we had to move back to Ohio.   I was still going to community college living with my parents and had no choice but to move back to Ohio with them.   It has been 15 years since I lived in FL and I miss it so much.   Someday I will move back to FL and grow mad hibiscus.    When we moved back to Ohio it was extremely hard for me to adjust to Ohio's weather, winter, and boring lifestyle.    For some reason the surfing lifestyle stayed with me even when I moved back to Ohio.   To help cope with the depression of leaving FL, I ordered Dean Miller Surf bedding (still have Dean Miller today)  and every summer I would go to a big box store and buy a hibiscus and just enjoy it for the summer.    Ever summer I would get the same red garden variety or sometimes have a 2nd pink one.    Hibiscus remind me of FL very much and it was a way of bringing a little taste of FL back to Ohio.    By about 2010 I was living on my own in Ohio and the 1st thing I did before I moved in my apartment was go to the big box store and buy the same pink and red garden variety hibiscus.    I was getting frustrated because the hibiscus I had were not doing well at all.   I killed a healthy hibiscus just by transplanting it.
Finally one day I was sick and tired of all these yellow leaves/bare sticks on my hibiscus and was searching the internet for some hibiscus fertilizer.     I came across HVH and was thrilled to see an all hibiscus nursery and realized Charlie and Cindy shared all there hard work to the public.   Not only did I find fertilizer but I found all this great information on the care section of the HVH website.    I read the whole HVH website over and over and realized they sold some hibiscus to.   I couldn't believe HVH had blue hibiscus and learned for the 1st time that you can grow hibiscus in the house over the winter and not have to dispose of it when summer was over!    After I received my 1st tub of Special Blend and my 1st blue hybrid that was it, I was hooked.      Today my license plate say HIBISCN.   It's a fun hobby and it keeps me out of trouble when I'm not working.  My brother and I have a plan and there is a point to all of this.   We started enlarging some of my best photos and had the prints put on canvas. The Space Oddity icon next to my name was one of the 20"x20" canvas prints that we had made up for our bathrooms and offices. 
Kyle
 
   
     
 
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