December blooms of the day

[Doll]

Bit a filthy long job to do, but on the plus side I did buy some lovely pots which will display the flowers really well. All my cv's are in pots, my garden is on the roof.
There is a thing about me in the World gardens, which I like to point out at every opportunity.

David, I love those pots you have your hibiscus growing in.

[Cindy]

Boy have I been missing good stuff here!  Farmer D, those Hollywood hibiscus that grow sunglasses are something else!!!!! ROFL I've been listening to Charlie laugh at his computer every morning, and now I know why! We HAVE  to put those Hollywood hibs somewhere on our website!!!!  Maybe a new glamour article?

I'm supposed to be working on the new store pages..... better get back to it.... but I just had to see what all the excitement's about....

Charlie's really making me work this year, building pages, coding products, pages and pages of them! Too many new seedlings! Yikes! 

Back to work....

[davidwood]

Hi David
Talking about potting soil I'm trying something, can't tell the results yet it will take a wile but I'v been repotting my plants using bonsai soil because the roots stay very clean & you get real good drainage & they can breathe better. I'v only been working with Hibiscus for about one year but I'v spent a lot of time working with bonsai, & when you confine a plant in a small pot good quality soil is important. A couple of years back I had a little tree I brought in for the winter, and it started dropping leaves until it looked like it was going to die. So I got some calcined clay witch they use for bonsai soil and bare rooted it and planted it in that media I was kinda laughing to myself thinking this is a joke how can anything live in clay. And in about 2 months the plant grew all new leaves & it looked beautiful I wouldn't of believed it if I hadn't of seen it with my own eyes. So I'm repotting my plants using about 60 to 70 percent bonsai soil 30 to 40 percent potting soil, I planted some azaleas in that mix of soil and they do better than in dirt. for a media bonsai use akadama or calcined clay, And I'm not talking about putting them in a bonsai pot use the same pot you were using just use their type of soil.    

Very interesting and worth bearing in mind. They do grow a lot of Bonsai here, its to hot for flowers so Bonsai is inside most homes.
I am not sure what calcined clay is but I will find out, when I had my interpreter with me asking about there potting mixes the lady told me they bring there clay from the Mekong Delta.

[davidwood]

David, I love those pots you have your hibiscus growing in.

Thanks Doll, at the moment some of the pots are inside as I have re potted and want to keep them out of the sun till they take, but when they are all spread out around the garden [had a sneak preview while it was dark] it looks very impressive. And as a bonus being glazed it will be  very easy to give them a midday cooling hose on the hotest days.

Just seen your Rain Drop, what a beuty!!

[farmer d]

Helixturnhelix - that is experience talking.  Thank you for the advice.  I'd be happy expanding my borders for sure into the brown realm.  Just like everyone else I'll be in trouble trying to contain myself from buying way more than I have room for.

David - those pots are absolutely gorgeous.  Wow - that is a great set up you have there.  I really hope the new soil medium does the trick for the roots.  It will be a spectacular display if all goes according to plan.

Right now I just hope I can save a couple of babies that are on ultra life support.  

Enjoy the new blooms for today in the rain...

Farmer D

[davidwood]

Farmer d, my first thought when I saw your garden was '' them borders aren't big enough and I don't think that lawn as much of a chance lasting'' ha ha. Not only are your cv's growing so well that they will need more room but you will soon become as nuts as the rest of us and will just have to buy one more weather you have the room or not, most of the people on this forum ran out of room a long time ago but still seem to buy more. Lovely Bon Temps.

[Louis]

Hello all,

Moonstruck and Tigerama.

Here is my first bloom of Tigerama. Really nice bush and the flower is outstanding. This bloom is about 8 inches as is the deep dark intense Moonstruck. Moonstruck will fade a little by afternoon and will hold that color for at least 4 days. The color on Tiger is very accurate.

I crossed Moonstruck with Tigerama and i noticed that Charlie has a bloom from the same match, called Zulu Warrior.

Let see what comes of this cross. I crossed them to each-other.

Louis

[Pachrian]

Tigerama is so pretty!

[Pachrian]

Pachrian - Same with Cranberry Muffin, those are some lovely colors.  Again I wasn't the biggest fan with how it browns over time.  Could you also post a pic in a few days to see where it goes?

Farmer D

Farmer D, I just saw your post...and now it's dark outside. I think tomorrow will be too late to take a pic, the flower was already near its end today. Colorwise there was absolutely no change though, MAYBE the colors were a little less intense when I saw it this afternoon.

Same for the other blooms, no color shift on any of them.

[Doll]

First Hot Wired bloom

[Mike]

Hi Doll
 Your Hot Wired looks Beautiful, I have one & it bloomed like crazy all summer long it was one of my best bloomers. 

[Louis]

Hi everyone,

a few blooms from today. first bloom on stolen kiss, great bloom, about 8 inches in diameter, and a backlit flameball.

 photos are labeled at the bottom.

louis

[farmer d]

No pictures, just lots and lots of rain.  So with the lack of any buds opening due to this here is a still of some really nasty stuff heading right over HVH.

Charlie - I hope the greenhouse didn't slide away tonight...that is some really intense rainfall.  That big ugly area of yellow and orange at the lower portion means business in your neck of the woods.

Farmer D

[Charlie]

I don't know how much rain we have had the last few days but it's as much as I can remember seeing here in at least 10 years. It's been steady to heavy non-stop rain for days now. I'm driving to San Francisco this coming weekend and wouldn't want to be doing it in this mess but weather.com says the rain breaks tomorrow and the weekend should be fairly nice. Our greenhouses have dirt roads all around them and without my 4 wheel drive pickup it would be impossible to get in there now. I feel for the rest of the country as the jet stream moves all this moisture into colder temperatures......watch out for snow, everybody east of here!

Charlie

[roadrunner]

I wish you Californians could send some of that heavy rain down my way. The southeast corner of Arizona has been missing out, though this weather pattern has had one really great benefit for us, nice mild morning temperatures in the mid to upper 40s so my hibs have been able to stay in the unheated greenhouse for the last few weeks. Normally it's a daily shuffle back and forth to the laundry room every night.

dave