Winter Blooming Hibiscus Houseplants!

[Darkhorse]

I suppose I have to add to this...  my Heartbreak Hotel seems fairly content in its winter window!  About an hour or so of direct sun, bright indirect light for the rest of the day.  The thermostat is set on 74 degrees F.

On the thermostat note, I noticed that a small change can mean big growth in the hibs.  I had the temperature set at 68 until my better half kept hinting that he was cold.  I cranked it up to 74 and saw an explosion in growth!

I toured the Winchester House at midnight on Halloween one year.  Very cool.

[Ernest]

Jordan, your Heartbreak Hotel looks great. We've been keeping our indoor temp at about 68 degrees most of the winter here in southern California. Now I think I'm going to turn it up a few more degrees after hearing about your experience.

My great grandfather actually did some of the construction work on the Winchester house. He was a builder who came to San Jose from England in the 1880s. Although I grew up in San Jose, I had never been in the Winchester house until a few years ago when I took my daughter and two grandsons.

Erny

[Cindy]

Beautiful Heartbreak Hotel, Jordan!!!! I love that flower!

Our propane bills are so high this winter that I've lowered our house temp back to 68. Charlie and I are getting solar panels this spring, so hopefully next winter we'll be able to keep the house warm without breaking our budget so badly.

Some of my hibiscus don't seem to mind the colder temps though. Hot Pepper just blooms and blooms no matter how cold the house gets.  Here it is with our 75 lb baby, Gigi:


Winter Lights blooms almost every day too. I LOVE how dark the colors are inside the house in the winter! Here it is with one flower closing and one flower opening:


Pinot Noir blooms every day in the house too, but the plant is so tall and it blooms up high on the top that I haven't gotten a picture yet. I need to prune it and figure out a better place to grow it so the flowers will show more.

Too Pretty is another huge bloomer. I had this plant outside all summer where it bloomed like crazy. When I first brought it in, it stopped blooming for a while, then started up again about a month ago. The interesting thing about this variety is that it branches like crazy, and blooms with multiple blooms up and down the entire length of the plant. Here are 2 blooms opening and one bloom closing about halfway up the side of the plant. I don't usually like yellow very much, but this one is such a great bloomer that I just love it.


These Flickering Flames came from the greenhouse - I haven't tried it in the house yet. But the pic was so cute I had to share it. I can't decide who is more photogenic - Gigi or Flickering Flame. :-)


I'd better get back to work! Have a great Sunday everyone!
Cindy

[helixturnhelix]

Wow great HBH Jordan!  Looks like you are doing a great job growing it.

Cindy,  that picture of Gigi with those flowers on her head is pricess.  I am always interested in hearing which CVs bloom well in cooler weather.  Though these days 68 sounds hot! 

Do you have Raindrop or My Blue Heaven in the house?  Those bloomed well for me in the cooler Seattle spring and summer last year.  The flowers were also spectacular and saturated under these conditions. 

[Darkhorse]

Thanks everyone!  HBH is becoming one of my favorite cvs.  I do wish it would grow faster...

Beautiful, Cindy!  I brought my Pinot Noir in from the greenhouse earlier this week.  It was doing better than average in the cold, and even has a few buds.  I may have blooms to share in a week or two!  It grows pretty quickly, too.

[Cindy]

Our Pinot Noir is in the coldest room in our house, and it's starting to really bloom too, Jordan. I think it likes it cool too. Ours has stopped growing, so that probably means more flowers for a while.

I don't have My Blue Heaven or Rain Drop, Chris. I can get a Rain Drop, but My Blue Heaven sells out so fast that even I can't get one!  I'll try to get a Rain Drop and try it out. I love how dark the blues get in the house. :-)

Wild Grape is blooming steadily too, a bloom every other day it seems like. I'll try to get a pic of it. I like it because it's a tiny plant and blooms that much. It might be another that I can try to Bonsai.

Back to work! Take care!
Cindy

[blupit007]

I don't know how I have missed this topic!  It is just my style!  Inside growing for those who have no choice!  Such beautiful blooms everyone.  Jordan, I love your HBH!  Cindy, your Gigi is soooo cute!  I did a photo of Tajah like that with a HUGE Cindy's Heart bloom once, she looked as pleased about the photo shoot as Gigi does!  haha!  Thanks for sharing everyone!

[Cindy]

Hi Kristen!  If you ever find that pic of Tajah with Cindy's Heart, I would love to see it. :-) I had to leave a Heartbreak Hotel behind in my hibiscus garden in our old house. I LOVED that plant too, Jordan. It bloomed all the time, and it stayed small and manageable in size.

My Orange you Pretty is blooming with 2-3 flowers at at time in the house now. It's my favorite of the moment maybe.

I have 2 other hibiscus that have this interesting new growth pattern - Too Pretty and Compassion. The main stalk is so covered with baby branches that I can barely see the wood. And these baby branches are starting to churn out the flowers. I'm not sure if I've done something to make them branch this heavily or if this is just what these new varieties like to do. They are pod mates, so it makes sense that they're similar and it's probably genetic. But they didn't branch this heavily in the greenhouse, so I'm not sure what's going on. It might be the combination of genes, lower light, and all the growth enhancer in the Houseplant Formula.  I'll try to snag the camera away from Charlie one of these days and post some pictures.

Cindy

[topshelf12]

  Here is a pic of Porcelain Doll. It was brought inside from the greenhouse a couple of months ago and has five more buds on it. It is in an east window and only gets sun until about noon. I am very impressed.
Norm
San Jose CA

[Brenden]

Haha, it's  almost like they're saying good morning Mom look at what  we did!

[Brenden]

Hi Cindy,

I am in the process of redoing the set up, I have another shelf now and plan on getting two 4 foot 4 bulb T5 fixtures with full spectrum 6400K lights.  the current 2 foot 4 bulb light set will be suspended above under the top shelf, where a 4 foot 4 bulb fixture will be suspended from the ceiling.  I decided on using full spectrum lights, instead of the bloom or 2700-3000K spectrum lights, because the relative intensity of red to blue light in both light types is almost identical.  Full spectrum lights also simulate noon sun intensity (when the light from the sun is most perpendicular with the earth) and for tropicals like hibiscus which don't see a change in relative sun intensity through the seasons, I figured would be fine with this spectrum.  So far I am very happy with the results, there are tons of buds forming and silver dragon is finally taking off!

Photos:

1: New Shelf, yes that is a duck phone from the 80s I got as a white elephant gift...
2: current set up, second shelf is all seedlings ready to be transferred to my new greenhouse space at the university!
3:Buds and more buds!
4: Silver Dragon
5: Sunrise this morning from my tiny basement window!

Haha those fish curtains, this k 7 had those at one point in time as a kid. Straight from the 90s,!