November blooms of the day.

[Charlie]

I just now got a good look at your Rockets Red Glare bush, Lou. That's a particularly fine specimen. Did you do anything special to get it to grow so upright?

Charlie

[Doll]

Rosalind

Black Dream


Black Dream seems to be a good seed setter. I have 2 seed pods on it.

[Louis]

Kristen,

the bloom in my avatar is oh-me-oh-my-oh, cool weather colors.

charlie,

on the rocket bush. i always stake my plants to keep them compact. i have found that if you stake with some resistance from the branches, they take a "set". hidden in the middle of the bush is one of your bamboo stakes, i have many of them that are sent with the plants.  i can take the stake out and the branches will stay in the upright position. the trick is to leave the pressure on the branches for a couple of months.


and a question, on my moonstruck, the blooms usually last 4 days, however i mentioned that i introduced pollen from black dream on the first day opening of both blooms. the bloom that i pollinated has closed premature. i have found with other plants that when their mission is accomplished, they close. what do you think?

louis

[davidwood]

I can agree with Loise that staking can train the branches, Charlie made a comment about my Pineapple Sunday being staked as it is known as a bit floppy, but I have since removed the stakes and it is now growing much more compact.
Another trick I have learnt for a nice bush is to prune very quickly any branch that cant be trained to stay straight.

[Yashodhara]

Hi Everyone!

Finally settling in after my recent move, and wanted to share a few of my November-in-Michigan blooms:

H. Storckii
Sunny Wind
Mandarin Wind
H. Arnottianus Twins

Deb 

[Charlie]

Very nice, Deb! Do you grow them all inside your house during winter in Michigan?

These are the first Hibiscus arnottianus blooms I can recall being posted on this forum. Any fragrance in these?

Charlie

[Yashodhara]

Hi Charlie!

Yes, believe it or not, hibiscus can thrive indoors in Michigan (You just have to make them think that they're in the tropics). It isn’t pretty, but I built an arbor and created a light table using clamp lights and special florescent bulbs (6000K for growth and 2700K for blooms), and an oscillating fan and humidifier (the challenge is keeping the humidity above 60% in the winter with the heat on). Last winter, “the pack” was only 25 tropical plants total. This winter, it’s closer to sixty (hibiscus account for about half of that total).

The H. arnottianus are new to the herd this year: The first one arrived in June and was 8” tall; under plant lights alone, it grew to 33” by early August (!!!). The two H. arnottianus (punaluuensis), H. brackenridgei and two H. kokio (one red, one orange) I have came from Hawaii, and the rest of my species hibiscus (H. liliiflorus, H. fragilis, H. rosa-sinensis and H. storckii) came from HVH. And I’m happy to say that they’re all thriving indoors under florescent lights with lots of afternoon sun (unusual for autumn in Michigan)… But then, they are benefiting from the very best nutrition and potting media available – from HVH, of course (They all say to tell you and Cindy, “Thank-you very much!”).

The H. arnottianus I have DO have fragrance (the scent reminds me of Plumeria, but better somehow), just not all the time… However, it’s not as strong as the fragrance of H. waimeae (hoping to add one or two of those next year!).

Pictures of “The Herd” (below), in what would be the dining room, after all of the plants (and the spider mites!) came in for the winter in early October. Everyone’s bigger now - Just waiting for the HVH exotics to bloom… hopefully this winter (Heart of My Heart, Pocahontas, Porcelain Doll, Maui Masterpiece, Belle du Jour - I think they’re intimidated by the “Hawaiians”). And another picture of of H. fragilis (I don't know where it's getting it's color cues from - Pink with a red eye this time).

Deb  

[Charlie]

Hi Deb,

Thanks for the explanation and photos. We send quite a lot of plants to Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and I've always wondered how people cope with them during the frigid winters. No chance at all of overwintering them outside or even in an unheated garage the way people in the far south of the US can. Your setup looks like you have considered all the needs the hibiscus have and provided relatively inexpensive solutions for light, temperature, etc. Nice job!

I'm going to try to provide more H. arnottianus (waimea) next year because the one we grow is very much more fragrant than H arnottianus. Unfortunately, it is also the worst rooter among all the species hibiscus that we have. It's neat that you have collected and are growing almost all of the cross-compatible hibiscus species that are the ancestors to our modern hybrids.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

Very neat!

I am looking at getting supplemental lighting this winter, I already feel the days getting shorter and shorter... Its starting to get dark around 4pm now, so if I can find some reasonably priced lighting I think the whole garden will appreciate it

Finally a perfect bloom from Robin Hood.  The blooms before this have been very reflexed, not flattening out until 2 days after opening (they have been staying open four) 

[roadrunner]

Your photos of Robin Hood really make me wish I had ordered that one too. Really nice.

Deb, great setup. I wish I had your space.

dave

[davidwood]

Made a little display with Magnifique, which is starting to bloom much more now.

[motherof4]

beautiful david.....and congrats on your world garden display!!!!! ,,,,Lynette

[davidwood]

Thanks Lynett, I am very proud of it, I think I have linked the page to every email I have sent since Cindy put it on, even my bank manager smiled and said ''nice garden David'' yesterday, and he is the most miserable sod to have had the good grace to ever walk the planet.

Lovely pictures Krustyart, I think you can expect a few questions about that seedling.
 I have a a set of Melon Melangie twins my self today.

[Charlie]

It's nice to see Magnifique blooming in the tropics!

BTW, I moved Crustart's photos of his seedling to the 2010 Seedlings topic.

Charlie

[roadrunner]

First bloom on Velvet Illusion measuring about 8 inches.  The bud's early color was white and gradually deepened for over a week as it grew larger before finally opening yesterday (14th). The second pic is the bud on November 5th which I emailed to Cindy asking her if I might have a mislabeled plant.  Strange.

Charlie is this normal for VI or maybe more a function of much cooler temperatures and/or other factors?

Great looking MM twins David and what are the other varieties pictured with Magnifique in the other picture?  My MM is still recovering from some mite issues.

dave