Houseplant Hibiscus Blooms

[Cindy]

My kitchen window outdid itself today!  The pair of Blue Ballerina's bloomed yesterday, and today is the second day, so the blooms are kind of tired looking. Then the Chariots of Fire and Torch Song opened this morning. Four blooms in my little kitchen window in one day, all in 4" pots. A great Valentine's Day treat!  :-)

Cindy

[Louis]

hello cindy,
they look great, you have the green thumb, for sure

louis

[stplong]

Cindy your blooms look great, I wish our winter blooms would have that much color but I guess living in Ohio you can't expect too much.

Patrick


here's a white diamonds blooming inside

[Cindy]

Thanks, Lou and Patrick!  The kitchen window they're in faces south and is really sunny all year round, so that helps the color a lot. Your white diamond is beautiful too, Patrick! :-)

Cindy

[Kyle]

1st bloom of 2015 on my Tsaritsa houseplant.   I was surprised to see micro buds on the bush in Feb because I have been pruning it selectively all winter until then.   I think Tsaritsa inherited her ability to bloom in lower light conditions from Wild Grape because she has not had any direct sunlight since I had her and is the only houseplant I have blooming.   I experimented with LED lights fall/winter and this is a result of that.   
I moved her away from the Led light but the camera still picked up some of the LED light on the bush and wall.  It's hard for me to shoot houseplants due to the lack of natural light on the subject.
On day 2 the hot pink faded which seems to have brought out the blue body.
6" flower

   

[Kyle]

Here is a side by side of a flower just opening and my day 5 1st bloom.    Was in a hurry today as I knocked the bush over off the table but it's ok.      

[Charlie]

That's very interesting, Kyle. Not many can bloom with no direct sunlight. Have to add that to the info about Tsaritsa. Thanks.

Charlie

[Kyle]

Charlie,
My Tsaritsa did have help from some artificial led lighting but so did the other 3 plants on the same table and they are not blooming.             
Here is one more bloom that opened Easter Sunday as this was my best to date and the camera almost picked up what I saw.  The flower color still have a ways to go and hope they reach their potential when the sun starts to rise out of the NE and through my windows.    Thank you for hybridizing this beauty.     
Kyle     

[Kyle]

After a short 1st summer of blooming, I decided  to hard prune this Pinot Noir in Dec. with a few additional prunes Jan - March.
The 5" pot now has a better established rootstock and doing very well as a houseplant so I probably will keep her indoors this summer.   
Anyone have some houseplant blooms to post?
Kyle

[DavidU]

Hi Kyle,

Your Pinot Noir looks great indoors.  I should have picked one up myself earlier in the year when HVH had them in stock.  Hopefully they make another return soon.  I've been experimenting with growing indoors in my home all winter and recently set up a 4 foot 8 bulb T'5 setup in a spare room.  After seeing the basement hibiscus posts that Chris (helixturnhelix) put up from a few years ago, I've been convinced that growing indoors can produce good results which is a must for me since I have limited outdoor space in the apartment complex I currently live in.  As you may remember, I also grow hibiscus indoors where I work and my parents also keep hibiscus indoors at home under grow lights as well, so this topic is right up my alley.

Here are some recent blooms that I've have as houseplants in the various indoor areas I mentioned.

1. Marooned n Blue doubles
2. Valentine's Day  & Creme de Cacao
3. Acapulco Gold
4. Blue Ballerina (BB doesn't even need T5's, it blooms fairly well in limited direct sunlight)
5. Tahitian Magenta Double Star
6. TMDS bush

[DavidU]

Here's a few more pics, including a shot of my current houseplant T5 set up.  Marooned n Blue is growing at work and is currently 5 1/2 feet tall.

[Kyle]

David,
I may have said this already but your houseplants at home and are the office are wonderful.   It finishes off the office.  Are your plants just inside until the weather warms up for summer?   I'm really impressed how well the T5's work for you and it doesn't appear that the plants are reaching and stretching as Fluorescent  lights are known to grow straggly plants/seedlings.

Here is the 1st bloom on a seedling {The Path x (Flameball x C'est Bon)} hybridized by Sonny Stallings part of the former seed bank program that I participated in.     This houseplant  is 15 months old.    The white and ivory flower is 5".    I'm a little disappointed because I'm so spoiled by big colorful flowers from hvh but I do like how different it is.   The other 2 seedlings from the same pod were tossed out because this seedling had a better bush and I like the shape of the leaves.    Not sure if I'm keeping it.      Thanks for letting me share.
Kyle
     

[Rachael]

Indoor Sea Spray! Always my favorite 

[DavidU]

Thank you Kyle. I absolutely agree about the plants in the office as they certainly brighten everyone's day.  People stop by all the time to comment on them, take pictures, and ask questions...it's pretty neat!

Experimenting with indoor growing has been a lot of fun since you have better control over the conditions.  Since I've had some success, I've decided to continue growing cv's indoors this year while also keeping certain plants outside.  I live in NJ and it's now warm enough at this point to keep plants outside, so I've brought out some of my older more established plants.  This year I am observing how each growing condition (indoor - natural light, indoor - T5 lighting, & outdoor conditions) impacts plant growth and flowering.  Interestingly enough, my indoor plants (under the T5's) have been blooming well and growing rapidly while my outdoor plants have yet to begin budding up again!  Since you grow indoors as well I'll certainly keep you posted on my observations over the passing months.

I have to admit, I've been pretty impressed with the results from the T5's as well.  I too feared that my plants would become leggy.  Some of my indoor plants in windows that only receive natural light have done this in the past, but I've realized that's because they are reaching for the direct sunlight that is farther away.  What's great about the T5's 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.  You mentioned that you do not spray/mist indoors I believe.  I absolutely spray/mist my plants under the T5's with a mix of water and supernova daily.  I haven't been too concerned with mold, etc. because 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.

Very nice seedling bloom!  While I love the big blooms too, the smaller flowers are just as special to me in their own right.  Here's a few indoor bloom shots from the last couple of days including my first set of triplets under the T5's, Blue Ballerina (a great bloomer in any condition, but also a mini) and Dixie Belle blooming indoors under natural light at work.

[DavidU]

Marianne Charleton, my first double, opening its first bloom in my indoor grow room.
I have a small Love Story that I can't wait to see bloom in its different forms.