The brightest CVs

[helixturnhelix]

Hi all,

I noticed that there are some VERY vibrant new varieties available this year.  Which ones are your favorites?

I was very surprised at how bright "Ruby Tuesday" and "Electric Orange" looked.   And of all the cvs I have, I find Living Legend to have the brightest colored blooms. 

I would like to see which other varieties stand out the most and are th brightest in your gardens!

Happy New Year

-Chris 

[Charlie]

Firestorm is another super bright bloom. It's hard to capture the intensity of color of some of these but we do our best. Firestorm is also a well shaped, beautiful bush and the flowers last at least 2 days in most conditions. As for 'Electric Orange', I had no intention of releasing another bright orange with white eye since 'Saffron' more than fills that niche, but 'Electric Orange' is just so darn bright that it earned a spot anyway.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

I really like Fire storm, but I think that I am going to wait for the 4' size of that one

The Damage for me so far...

Silver Dragon
Robin Hood
Brave heart

[Charlie]

I think you will like those, Chris. BTW, my biologist sister is here visiting. She still thinks biotech is a good field for new pHDs, although she is fantasizing about working in the ecology field somehow.

It's been quite a day here, beating all opening day sales records from previous years already. Better economy plus a growing interest in hibiscus, I guess.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

Thats great news Charlie!  I am glad that you guys had such a great opening day!  I figured that was true when many of the varieties for sale were gone before I woke up that morning  

I have one quick question, how would you rate how vigorous Robin Hood and Braveheart are?  I am trying to buy the 4" size for the vigorous varieties, because I want to keep them small as long as possible.  It sounds like Robin hood is very vigorous, but I was curious as to how it compares to your fastest growers, like Acapulco Gold and Valentines Day. 

I am sure you and your sister are aware of the recent green revolution that has swept the country.  Its great for someone with advanced science training to get a job in a new and exciting field and I think that environmental engineering is going to be like computer science was twenty years ago.  Depending on which way you go in that field, you could be doing alot of ecology, but without the ecologist salary There are many opportunities if she wants to make the switch, and still do something ecologically relevant. (I am thinking of making the switch myself) 

[Cindy]

Hi Chris,

Robin Hood is similar to Acapulco Gold in growth habit, although it tends to make more branches. Braveheart is less vigorous, although it has an interesting trait of growing a few main stems and then sending out many side stems from the main stems. Lots of stems means lots of blooms usually!

Your comments about environmental engineering are interesting! If my sister survives her visit to Mexico I will talk to her about it. She went to the Seychelles  recently to participate as a volunteer in a reef survey with some group that has a grant to survey the world's reefs which are in danger of dying off. That's what got her going about shifting fields from biotech to ecology.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

I think that Environmental engineering is going to be a great field to get into over the next few years. 

I am looking forward to growing BH and RH, they sound pretty nice! 

One question about Acapulco Gold, does it defoliate readily?  Mine only has leaves and buds on the most recent growth, the rest of the plant is bare.  I was thinking that this was due to maybe being indoors and when I put it ouside again it will regrow leaves?  What do you think?

-Chris 

[Charlie]

You can try putting it outdoors and see what happens but I suspect you will have to prune the bare branches to get it to leaf out properly again. Maybe try pruning the worst branch only, and see how it compares to the others by mid-summer?  Acapulco Gold does have longer internodal spaces between leaves than some varieties so when a leaf goes that makes a good size gap. A few leaves go on a stem and you have a stem that starts to look quite bare. Please let me know what happens and what you try. Have you had blooms on it?

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

Hi Charlie,

Acapulco Gold does have buds on all the branches and should be blooming alot in the next few weeks, (I hope).  The bush itself looks really skimpy (leaves only on the top), When the weather is nicer and we are getting more sun, I think I will give it a hard prune because the last prune I did didn't give me the shape I wanted.  I will keep you updated on how it does!

[Pachrian]

Chris, how's your AG doing? Have you pruned it yet?

[helixturnhelix]

Hi Uli,

Acapulco Gold is pruned, but unfortunately the new leaves got very burned outside.  I am hopeful that it will grow back and look nice and lush this summer.