News from Hidden Valley Hibiscus

Hibiscus Gardens Around the World

Corona, California, U.S.A.

A tropical paradise in Corona

Welcome to Corona, California, the home of Thomas and Ania. This city, east of Los Angeles, in Riverside County has the challenges of the California desert "inland" climate. This means scorching hot summer days with the kind of dry heat that is hard on hibiscus. Thomas works full time and has a family to raise, so he has limited time in his garden. But even with all these obstacles, he has created a gorgeous tropical garden in his yard.

Thomas & Ania

Thomas' tropical jungle on his steep bank

Thomas' father was a perpetual gardener, and his mother was an agricultural teacher for 36 years. So he came by his green thumb naturally.

Thomas' first exotic 'Valentine's Day'

His yard is built into a hill, so he started by creating a topical jungle on his steep bank. He added a few garden variety hibiscus, but something was wrong with them. They weren't growing well and looked very sick. Thomas began researching hibiscus, discovered the new exotic hibiscus varieties, and was amazed at the colors and huge sizes of the flowers. He studied how to care for hibiscus, then decided to try 5 or 6 exotic hibiscus. He got his first plants 3 years ago, and fell in love with his first bloom, 'Valentine's Day.'

'Island Queen' blooming in Thomas' garden

Thomas didn't realize that his inland California climate would be so challenging for hibiscus though. For the last three years he has been learning how to shelter his plants from summer heat and winter freezing, as well as how to adjust their fertilizer for the weather.

'Midnight Tryst' in Thomas' garden

Thomas grows his hibiscus mostly in pots so he can move them in high heat or winter freezes.

So far, Thomas has grown his hibiscus almost exclusively in pots. This allows him to move them into shadier spots during the blazing heat of summer. Freezing can be a problem in winter too, but it is usually only a few nights. Thomas just moves his hibiscus into his garage on nights when it is expected to freeze.

An 'Energy Blast' flower in Thomas' garden

A year ago, he tried planting 10 garden variety hibiscus in the ground, and they made it through last year's very cold winter without a problem. So now he has planted a few exotic hibiscus in the ground to see how they will do. Hibiscus like to spread out their roots and keep them cool underground in hot places like California. So he hopes to be able to plant more of them in the ground at his location.

Thomas' beautiful 'King Kamehameha'

Thomas uses a mix of watering methods. Most of his hibiscus are on an EZ-Flow drip system which also fertilizes his plants. For the plants in very shady locations, he waters by hand since they don't require daily watering. For these plants he uses a proportioner to add extra potassium and supplements in order to get bigger and better blooms. A few of his hibiscus are in an area that has sprinklers. For these plants he uses a timed-release fertilizer and supplements 1-2 times per week with a deep watering and extra potassium run through a proportioner.

'Appassionata' in Thomas' garden

'Venetian Pepper'

Thomas has so many beautiful hibiscus that it is impossible to show them all here. Below are a few of his many hibiscus varieties. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

'Joan of Arc'

'Sugar Kisses'

'Moonstruck'

'Mountain Mist'

'Lion's Mane'

Thank you, Thoma and Ania, for sharing your beautiful hibiscus garden with us!

Hibiscus Fertilizers & Booster

Can I use my Hibiscus Fertilizers on Other Plants?

This is a question we get asked every week, so we thought putting the answer in a newsletter might be helpful. The simple answer, is: Yes, you can use our fertilizer and booster on most garden plants, and you can use our Houseplant Formula on most houseplants.

All our hibiscus fertilizers are basically just very high quality fertilizers that are hard for home gardeners to get in garden centers, so they provide optimal nutrition for any plants that like a normal to slightly acidic pH. For example, if you use our hibiscus fertilizer and booster on roses, you will see an explosion of growth and flowers because roses need as much potassium as hibiscus do, and most rose foods don't have enough potassium for their optimum health.

We haven't tried our fertilizers out on all plants, of course, but these are the plants we have personally used our fertilizers and booster on with excellent results:

Special-Blend, Timed-Release & Booster

• agapantha
• bird of paradise
• bougainvillea
• camelias
• clivia
• crepe myrtle
• day lilies
• ficus (fig trees)
• geraniums
• gerberas
• hardy hibiscus
• hydrangeas
• ice plant
• jacaranda tree
• jade plant
• lantana
• palm trees (many kinds)
• pepper trees
• plumbago
• plumeria
• roses
• tipu tree

Our fertilizers don't work well for plants like carnations and cactus that need a higher pH fertilizer.

Houseplant Formula

• aloe vera
• ficus
• orchids (half strength)
• palms (many kinds)
• philodendron
• poinsettias
• pothos
• rubber trees
• umbrella plants

Our Houseplant Formula doesn't work well for Christmas cactus or other cactus plants that need a higher pH fertilizer.

If your try any of our fertilizers out on any plants that we haven't listed here, please let us know how they do. We get asked this question so frequently that we would like to compile as complete as list as possible.