July flowers of the day.

[Pachrian]

Oh no, I hope Cindy feels better soon. Shingles don't sound fun at all

Thanks for the heads up, Charlie!

[Darkhorse]

Uli, I did make it home in time!  The blooms were closing but you can still see what color they ended up.


Charlie, tell Cindy we hope she feels better.  I haven't experienced shingles but the chicken pox were bad enough.  ouch 

[Pachrian]

Wow! that first bloom in particular looks delicious enough for me to go back to Armstrong's and see if they still have it there. Will just have to quarantine and spray, I suppose. Thanks

[Darkhorse]

Uli, I know what you mean, I'm not really a fan of faders but in this case this is one of the few blooms that I still find attractive after it fades.  Its bush is good, it branches naturally, and it blooms a lot; but mites do seem to LOVE this cv.  The plant pictured was covered in mites when I got it in the mail (not from HVH, another vendor) and of course they put it in the box with all the others.  UGH!  Anyway, it's almost clean now and as soon as I get the fertilizer burn issues worked out the bush will look even better. 

Allegedly CL sets seeds too, but I haven't tried. 

[Charlie]

I seem to recall someone mentioned seeing Hotbiscus at an Armstrong Garden Center lately that were "teeming with mites and thrips". I hope anyone seeing this will complain to the store manager and point it out to him/her. It is not the store's fault - it is their grower's fault for sending them out that way. I've pointed it out to their growers before but they just don't take it seriously enough. If they hear complaints from customers they might start doing more spraying. I don't think they understand thrips at all and never use spinosad so most Hotbiscus will have thrips when you get them from them. They were doing better with mites for awhile but apparently are not doing so well presently.

[Pachrian]

I think you are referring to my post, Charlie. I actually just got back from the store with  Creole Lady after seeing Jordan's pics. They had the "hotbiscus" in two separate sections. The plants in the back were crammed close together and had the mites/thrips. The few in the front looked clean. When I mentioned the situation to the owner, she offered me 50% off any hibiscus. I grabbed the CL from the front and will keep it quaranteened and treat it.

How long before I'm in the clear?   

[motherof4]

Charlie give her my best...I  have had a couple of friends get shingles and I heard they are very painfull.....so sorry..lynette

[helixturnhelix]

Poor Cindy,

Hope she feels better!  On a side note, doctors have been recommending giving the varicella vaccine to individuals over 50 as a booster against chicken pox and shingles.  Since the immune system wains as we get older, a booster is thought to boost your titer against the varicella virus in the event that it reactivates (shingles)  Something to look into in the future, but for now time and lots of orange juice

[Charlie]

sigh.......with both Chris and Cindy pushing me to get the vaccine for shingles, I have to surrender and do it. Ah well, watching Cindy suffer with this is enough to make anyone want some protection. She's a tough cookie with pain normally, but this one has been rough.

BTW, Chris, she says to tell you your quick action on Pinot Noir beat out the waiting list this time. Well done, I say!

Pinot Noir has turned out to be much better than I at first thought it was. Fantastic color and often full 8 inch size. Probably less impressive mid-summer in full sun but in less intense conditions it's one of the best we are growing.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

LOL!  I've learned over the last two years   I was waiting for either Pinot Noir or Arabian princess for a lobbed leaf variety, I have some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket and today it burned right on through.  Plus these 4' pots are easy to move, they fit right into the cup holder of your car

[stplong]

Charlie,

I just think you and Cindy should just send all your regular customers one of each as they come available, I was able to get 2 of what I wanted but when I ordered,  Ruby Tuesday wasn't  listed but now it's listed and out of stock so I missed out on that one again. I think everyone would agree that way would be fair.   Just my thoughts.


Patrick

[motherof4]

ya i was checking about every hour and i had to leave for about 3 hours tonight and there was ruby tues....gone...oh well

[Charlie]

It sure makes all the blood, sweat, and tears involved in producing these worthwhile when we get this kind of response and comments! Thanks to everyone!!

We probably should have some sort of priority system in place. Occasionally a first time hibiscus grower will stumble into the store at just the right moment to buy something rare they shouldn't start with, and before the waiting list people see their email about it. That's always frustrating but we haven't figured out a better system yet.

Cindy didn't finish the update yesterday. There are a few varieties not sold before that she needs to build pages for and I think she only made it up to S by the end of the day. For instance, Shockwave is a new one that will be added later today. It's a huge flower - 8 to 10 inches - with bright and clear red and yellow colors. Doesn't root so just a few grafted plants have been made so far. Also a Wild Thing (parent of Heartbreak Hotel) for someone daring enough to grow that one. Also a new introduction called Scarlet Beauty - huge red flower, and New Idea - a double red from Australia, several Strawberry Cream - a pink and white as big as Fantasy Charm but with the heavy texture of Byron Metts, and a few Splash plants, a splashy one that I really like. Hopefully she will get to all this today. She's still moving slowly, dealing with the pain of the shingles attack but working on the computer is a good distraction so I imagine she will be at it most of the day.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

WOAH Charlie,

Shockwave is awesome!  What a cool flower, its like Saber Dance, but it sounds like it is alot larger!  I gave my Uncle a Saber Dance last year (Hes a horticultural buff) and it just keeps on blooming.  I will be looking out for Shockwave later today

I am not going to lie, having an iPhone has helped out alot as far as knowing when the store updates are being done:)

[Charlie]

Aha, your secret is out! I see more and more hibiscus photos taken with Iphones nowadays. I understand there are apps available that allow full editing of the photos on the camera as well.

Shockwave is indeed very much like Saber Dance, but twice as big. Saber Dance blooms more, as smaller flowered varieties often do, but Shockwave has the more impressive flower. I have another one, Pomp and Circumstance, that is also a red and yellow and also huge, but the bush is sprawling and doesn't branch well so when Shockwave came along I was very pleased and stopped messing around with Pomp. Shockwave also has something interesting happening in the eye zone some of the time. The flower develops more yellow area the hotter it gets, creating more of a picotee effect, and more red area the cooler it gets, but so far it has always had both colors unlike some that are essentially reds that develop yellow spots in the heat. Shockwave is Rosalind x Work of Art, both Australian varieties that I imported a decade or more ago. It resembles Work of Art more than Rosalind, perhaps a better bush but the flower is very similar.

Charlie