Sparkling Water

[topshelf12]

  I have had this one for a while and have not seen the white spotting on the flowers yet. Charlie do you know if the hot weather will bring them out?
thanks
Norm

[Charlie]

Norm, Sparkling Water is quite variable. I checked the dates on my many photos of it and found that in late fall or winter it opens with a lot of bright pink and lavender while in hottest summer it shows more gray and white. I've also noticed that in summer it will change a lot after it opens so that the bloom in late afternoon will look very little like the bloom that opened in the morning.

I whacked back several very tall Sparkling Water plants last year that had grown vigorously with only 1 or 2 branches all summer long. After I cut the 6 foot high plants down to about 2 feet they responded by putting out a lot of new branches. Since the more stems a hibiscus has, the more flowers it is likely to make I think it is important to help those that need it develop more stems.

Charlie