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Hidden Valley Hibiscus
Growers & Hybridizers of Exotic, Tropical Hibiscus
Volume 18, Issue 10
October 2017


News from Hidden Valley Hibiscus


Giant Hibiscus 'Colosseum'

Exotic Hibiscus 'Pinot Noir' in Page Border



'Marie Antoinette'


'Cock-Eyed Optimist'


'Carmel Dawn'

Hi to all our Fellow Hibiscus Lovers!

It has been a long and extremely difficult fall for so many of you, and it isn't over yet! Many of our hibiscus buddies in Texas and Florida lost all their hibiscus plants, which seems too sad for words, but they all consider themselves lucky not to have lost their houses or lives. Our hibiscus friends in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, St. Martin, and so many other Caribbean islands are still struggling and worrying about the day-to-day survival of their families, since many of them have lost their houses, and still don't have running water, electricity, or phone service. Many are trying to get their children off the islands to a safer place, but it takes weeks to get a plane ticket out. So please keep them in your thoughts and prayers! Thankfully Hurricane Nate did not bring disaster to Alabama and Louisiana, and now we can only hope and pray that hurricane season is finally over!

Our feature article this month is the Worldwide Hibiscus Garden of Dave in Montclair, New Jersey, USA. Montclair is in the greater New York City area where winters are very, very cold and snowy. Dave's hibiscus garden is actually three separate gardens, since he grows his hibiscus in three different locations. Read below to see how he does it!

Our second article this month will answer one of our most common fall questions: Should I Fertilize My Hibiscus in Winter?. There is a lot of misinformation on the internet on this topic, so be sure to read the answer for hibiscus.

Last but not least, at the bottom of the newsletter, our newest Seedling of the Month is another giant hibiscus flower, but this one has super saturated pigments. We hope you like it as much as we do! Take a peek!

Stay safe!!!!!!

Charles & Cindy Black



'Pinot Noir'


'Flamboyant'


'Golden Gate'



 

Hibiscus Gardens Around the World

Montclair, New Jersey, USA



Dave's Hibiscus blooming inside in the winter

This is Dave, an academic at a nearby law university, who lives in Montclair, New Jersey, just outside New York City. Like New York, Montclair has very cold winters with many snowy months when hibiscus have to be inside a heated room to survive. Dave lives in an apartment so this is a challenge for him! He has been very creative in finding places to grow for his favorite plants.



Dave's hibiscus growing in his university hallway

Dave grows many of his plants in windows in his university, as you can see above. Some plants are in his office windows. Others are in the windows of the long hallways outside his office, blooming and looking beautiful for everyone in the university! He started with just a few plants, but over the years the numbers have grown, and his university hallways have become more colorful. Dave's hibiscus brighten everyone's day. People stop by all the time to comment on them, take pictures, and ask questions. He has made a truly special spot in the halls of his law school!



Hibiscus growing outside Dave's condo in summer

In the summer, Dave grows many hibiscus in the yard around his condo and more around his parents' house. He clusters pots of hibiscus together and uses a drip system to water them at his condo. They make a beautiful outdoor hibiscus garden all around the houses! Both he and his parents have grow lights set up in their basement, where the plants spend the winter.



Dave grows hibiscus on a drip system
outside his condo in summer.

They bloom like crazy and make a gorgeous
outdoor hibiscus garden.


More hibiscus growing in
Dave's outdoor hibiscus garden.

Exotic hibiscus Tarzan growing in
Dave's outdoor hibiscus garden.


Exotic hibiscus 'Marianne Charlton' blooming under
lights in Dave's indoor grow room.
At home in his condo, Dave grows some plants in windows. But he has many plants under two T5 light fixtures where they grow and bloom all winter long. He used to keep most of his plants in the winter under one 4foot, 8 bulb, T5 light fixture in his spare bedroom. But he soon had too many plants to keep under just one fixture. His condo association liked his summer hibiscus so much that they let him use a spare room in the building basement. So now he has more plants under two 4-foot, 8-bulb fixtures, and he may soon need a third! He set up an indoor drip system (Claber Oasis self-watering system) under each light to feed and water his plants.


Dave's winter grow room

Because he loves houseplants, he keeps his apartment full of hibiscus all year round, and enjoys the blooms through all seasons. At first he was worried that his plants would become leggy under the lights. Some of his indoor plants in windows that only receive natural light had done this in the past because they had to reach for direct sunlight far away. "What's great about the T5's," says Dave, "is that you can keep the light source much closer to the plants (as well as adjust the fixture if they get too close) and I think this has helped keep my plants full and not reaching. I spray/mist my plants under the T5's with a mix of water and supernova daily. The warmth from the lights dries the plants back up pretty quickly after misting them down each day, and I've found that the plants love to be misted regardless of what conditions they are in."

Below are a few of the plants Dave grows under all his different growing conditions. We hope you enjoy them!



Exotic hibiscus 'Acapulco Gold' blooming under lights in Dave's indoor grow room.


Hibiscus blooming in Dave's outdoor garden at his condo in summer.


Exotic hibiscus 'Acapulco Gold' blooming
outside Dave's parents' house in summer.

Exotic hibiscus 'Midnight Tryst' blooming
in Dave's outdoor garden.


Exotic hibiscus 'Thunderhead' blooming
in Dave's outdoor hibiscus garden.

Exotic hibiscus 'Prosperity' blooming in a
window in Dave's indoor university garden.


Exotic hibiscus 'God's Eye' blooming
in Dave's outdoor hibiscus garden.

Exotic hibiscus 'Bantam Rooster' blooming in
a window in Dave's outdoor hibiscus garden.


Exotic hibiscus 'Language of Love' blooming
in Dave's outdoor hibiscus garden.

Exotic hibiscus 'Rainbow Christie' blooming
in Dave's outdoor hibiscus garden.


Dave's parents gave him his love of gardening and growing tropical plants. He fell in love with hibiscus and has taken his hibiscus gardening to amazing levels considering that he lives in a condo in a very cold and snowy place! He started his hibiscus hobby when he was single, then met and married his wife Geetha. Together they get to live in a world that is surrounded with flowers all year round. Their passion for hibiscus is such a huge part of their life together that Geetha's mother made them a hibiscus cake to celebrate their engagement. The hibiscus on the cake are as beautiful as the hibiscus in their gardens!



Hibiscus in a snowy window in Dave and Geetha's condo
We're halfway through fall, and soon Dave and Geetha's hibiscus will be snugly tucked into their winter spots, watching the snow outside, and continuing to grow and bloom under Dave's care. Thank you, Dave and Geetha, for sharing all your hibiscus gardens with us!


 



 

Should I Fertilize my Hibiscus in the Winter?

Every winter we get questions about fertilizing during the winter months. It’s a good question, and the right answer is simple: YES! If you stop fertilizing your hibiscus over the winter, your plants will go more deeply into dormancy and their health will slowly decline. They will be more susceptible to root diseases (the hibiscus equivalent of a cold or pneumonia). It will be much slower and more difficult to wake them up in the spring. If you want your hibiscus to maintain their health over the winter and wake up quickly in the spring, it is very important to keep fertilizing through the winter months.

If you use our Special-Blend Fertilizer or our Houseplant Formula, you will naturally water less in the winter, so you will naturally also use less fertilizer, which is perfect for your hibiscus.


Exotic hibiscus 'Out of the Ashes' blooming
in early spring after fertilizing through
the winter with both fertilizer and booster.
If you use a Timed-Release Fertilizer, it will release more slowly in colder weather because the release rate is controlled by temperature.

Using plenty of potassium is also important for hibiscus in winter. Potassium literally makes plants stronger and tougher so they don't have tender green shoots that a little frost can easily kill. Potassium makes cell walls stronger and more fortified, so they won't burst open as easily in a cold snap. It makes green stalks and branches grow brown wood, and wood is much tougher in cold than soft green branches. In addition to all this, potassium creates and stores more sugar in plants to provide warmth and nutrition for them through the winter, which also makes plants more able to fend off cold snaps. So if you use our Hibiscus Booster for extra potassium, keep using it through the fall and winter. Just as with the fertilizer, you will water less and use less of it in the winter, which is exactly what your hibiscus need.

Also, remember that if you use our Houseplant Formula, you will not need to use extra potassium. The Houseplant Formula is loaded with potassium and provides large doses of it with every watering.

Your hibiscus are less actively growing and metabolizing in the winter, so they need less fertilizer, but they do need some fertilizer all winter long! So don't forget to keep up with your fertilizing regimen!


 



Seedling of the Month...                                

                               . . . A New Vividly Colored Giant!


Seedling of the Month

Our October Seedling of the Month is a new giant hibiscus. It's still an unnamed seedling, but we're in love with the super saturated 8-10" (20-25 cm) flower. We've been working for the last three years to develop giants with higher levels of pigments in a wider variety of colors. This new seedling demonstrates exactly that! The flower is packed with pigments, giving it amazingly vivid colors. It's a multi-colored flower with rings of yellow, hot pink, and blue around a red eye. All the way around, it is just what we're trying to develop in our giant flowers.

Our seedling's parents are 'Bon Temps' and 'Bright Hope.' Mother 'Bon Temps' opens with vivid colors, but quickly fades to almost pure white. But father 'Bright Hope' holds its colors even in summer heat. So far, it looks like our new seedling has inherited its father's more durable pigments, since we haven't seen it fade in heat. The bush is medium-sized and very lush with deep, dark green, shiny foliage. We need more testing before we know if this seedling will make it into our store, but we're very hopeful! We hope you like it too.