Hidden Valley Hibiscus
Growers & Hybridizers of Exotic, Tropical Hibiscus

Volume 19, Issue 3
March 2018

News from Hidden Valley Hibiscus

HVH Awards Edition!

Hibiscus of the Year 'Rags to Riches' Blooming in a 6" Pot
Hibiscus of the Year for 2015 'Carmel Dawn' in Page Border

'Amethyst Brooch'

'Time After Time'

'Summer Fun'

Happy Spring to All!

Winter didn't come to Southern California until the last freezing cold 6 weeks, but it looks like we're finally warming up. Last week we finally had our first frost-free week at our office, and it's supposed to hold. So now we can finally start shipping hibiscus. Our early mornings are still in the high 30's this coming week, so we will ease into it to make sure the plants are safe. We're hoping to start shipping in one more week and have shipping fully underway in April.

This month we are featuring our 2017 HVH Hibiscus Awards. Sometimes it's hard to pick our "best" hibiscus of the year, but this year was easy. Both of our award-winners have been such stand-outs that we all agreed quickly that THESE are the ones. We hope you like them as much as we do!

At the bottom of the newsletter, you can see all our Past HVH Award Winners, in case you have missed them in past years.

Warm sun and best wishes to all!

Charles & Cindy Black

'Prosperity'

'Angélique'

'Deepest Love'

HVH Hibiscus Awards for 2017

It's time for our hibiscus awards for 2017. This year's winners are super bloomers! In our hybridizing, we tend to emphasize our focus on our giant flowers, which are a very important part of our program. But another important part is developing super blooming flowers, and this year's winners reflect that. These are the hibiscus plants that bloom and bloom every day - frequently with multiple flowers. It's even better if the flowers are especially beautiful or interesting! But before we even consider a hibiscus for these awards, we have a list of basic criterion that each candidate must meet:

The flower must have:

Exceptional beauty
Good size
Good form
Durable color
A long-lasting bloom

The bush must be:

Strong, vigorous, and easy to grow
Lush and pretty
Well branched
Upright without drooping or "flopping" branches
A good bloomer

Hibiscus of the Year is a variety that we have been growing for several years, that has proven itself to be reliable, beautiful, and an overall excellent performer and bloomer.

Seedling of the Year is a new hybrid variety that has impressed us very much during its first full year of growing in our greenhouse. It demonstrates some kind of new break-through for us in our hybridizing program, and embodies all the qualities we are striving for.

Our Winners for 2017 are. . .

Hibiscus of the Year: 'Rags to Riches'

Hibiscus of the Year 'Rags to Riches' Blooming in a 6" Pot

Our Hibiscus of the Year is 'Rags to Riches.' This hibiscus is a blooming fool! It never stops! Even in a small 6" pot, the plants bloom prolifically throughout the year. The flowers aren't our largest. They are medium sized with 6-8" flowers. But there are so many of them on the bush, that we never care that they aren't giants. The single flowers have a bright red body and eye, with a fuchsia pink halo, and yellow spots and splashes around the edges of each petal. In summer heat, the yellow increases, and in winter cool, it decreases. But the flowers are always bright, colorful, and plentiful!

The bush is strongly upright, full, lush, and well-branched with flowers well presented on every branch. It's an easy-to-grow hibiscus, and one of our Tried and True varieties.

Seedling of the Year: 'Floral Bliss'

A darker 'Floral Bliss' at opening

Our Seedling of the Year is 'Floral Bliss.' It is another medium-sized flower that is 6-8 inches across, so not one of our largest. But it is another excellent bloomer! It blooms profusely with beautiful multi-colored flowers in rings of light pink or white, bright pink, blue or lilac, purple and red around a pink eye. The colors change with the weather, but every look is beautiful!

A softer 'Floral Bliss' in heat

The bush of 'Floral Bliss' is upright, full, well-branched and a great bloomer. Although it is a new seedling, it already looks like it will be easy to grow even for beginners. For all these reasons, it was our stand-out hibiscus for Seedling of the Year.

And the Runners-Up for 2017 are. . .

Hibiscus of the Year Runners-Up

'Dapple Dandy'

'Ruby Ring'

'Star Power'

Seedling of the Year Runners-Up

'Bright Future'

'Stairway to Heaven'

'Catharsis'

'Purple Funk'

'God's Eye'

'Happiness'

'Bantam Rooster'

'Gargantuan'

HVH Hibiscus Awards for Past Years

Below are our award winners for past years. Over the years, as we have hybridized better bushes, larger flowers, better color durability, or better vigor, we have stopped growing a few of these old classics. We try to bring most of them back at some time during the year. But all of them are the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents of many of our new hybrids! Often their offspring have improved traits that we want to keep, so we grow the offspring instead of the original award-winning plant. We have many of these award-winners and even more of their descendents in our store right now!