May Photos of the Day

[SvitLana]

Yashodhara, your flowers very beautiful! Congratulations!

[SvitLana]

davidwood , Your terrace mine dream!

[farmer d]

Debi your blooms are awesome.   Black Dragon is just gorgeous.

Farmer D

[Yashodhara]

What type of growlights have you been using?  Seems like several CVs are liking that artificial lighting, which seem to bloom and grow the best for you under these lights?

Hi Chris!

For Lighting: I'm using 23W (1,600 lumens) compact fluorescent bulbs in a combination of 6500K for growth and 2700K for bloom.  The bulbs are screw in, just like regular fluorescent light bulbs, and I use them in standard 8" metal clamp lamps that are polished inside to reflect more light. It isn't pretty, but it's not too expensive ($35.00 for 6 bulbs, $8.00 each for clamp lamp), the bulbs last for years (8,000 to 10,000 hours), and are very easy on the electric bill. Most importantly: the plants respond well to the light produced (opposite ends of the spectrum - blue & red), the bulbs don't create much if any heat, and I get to enjoy happy tropical hibiscus paradise in my cold, snowy, rainy, cloudy northeastern U.S. climate.  

Best growers & bloomers: In general, species hibiscus will do both amazingly fast and well with any decent amount of light. My best growers of that bunch are H. Arnottianus & H. Storckii.  My best "ancestor" bloomers are H. Liliiflorus (any light at all will do!), H. Arnottianus, Orange Kokio and Orange El Capitolio. For the exotics - Well, so far all of them (except Belle du Jour, who grew too fast to hang out on the light table with her kindred, so that answers who's the fastest exotic grower!) have been blooming their branches off under the lights: Porcelain Doll, Pocahontas, Heart of My Heart are all blooming and have tons of buds right now... Maui Masterpiece brings up the rear, but she's had seed pods since she started blooming, and still blooms, so that's not bad at all! Once I got the spider mite situation under control (2 months on Kontos), the exotics went to town (and they're still out partying).

Oh, and I don't underestimate the importance of good nutrition - My plants are fed and fed well: HVH House Plant, Sea Kelp Potassium, Magnesium, Iron and Growth Enhancer (Super Nova)... I think that's why they're able to do well indoors.

And since this is technically "Blooms of the Day", here's Cosmic Dancer and El Capitolio Orange...

[Yashodhara]

Yashodhara, your flowers very beautiful! Congratulations!

Thank-you, SvitLana... I saw the blooms that you posted last month - very beautiful!  I also have hibiscus 'Hilo Island,' but mine is still young (not blooming yet).  I hope that you will post some more of your hibiscus pictures soon - It's always fun to see what people all over the world are growing in their hibiscus gardens!  Thank you for sharing yours. 

[helixturnhelix]

Hi Deb,

Thanks alot for the info!  I will need to try this out next winter!

[Yashodhara]

Deb, your plants are HUGE and obviously happy. Seedpods on the Arnottianus. Is that the especially fragrant one that we have at HVH? I've never been able to get fragrance using it in hybridizing but have to admit I have not tried nearly enough since this is a very worthwhile goal.

Hi Charlie!

While I learned all about H. Arnottianus here on the HVH website many years ago, by the time I had what I needed to support such a potentially large hibiscus, you were no longer offering it    (The two I have came from Hawaii).

This variety does have fragrance, but it's not Waimeae. Sometimes I think I occasionally become desensitized to the scent (because I actually live with mine?): There have been times when my neighbor has remarked on the fragrance from the doorway (and across the room), when I can't smell it at all.

Arnotti is quite the seed setter (she seems to "like" every CV I've crossed her with, as well as herself), so I would be happy to send you all the H. Arnottianus-crossed  seeds you'd like to grow.  

Here are a few pictures (I'll post more info/photos in the "Hibiscus Cultivar Discussions" topic).

[Doll]

Sunrise Dance - Much better than the first bloom


Cindy's Heart

[Louis]

Hi All,

its great to see so many great blooms after a terrible winter. i to give a blanket WOW to all on your plants and photos.

here is my first bloom of Electric Red. absolutely outstanding plant and flower. Charlie, what do you use for fertilizer in the greenhouses. I have never seen such healthy plants. I just received 6 plants the other day and there was no even a wrinkled leaf. KUDOS to you and cindy and your staff.

I am looking forward to more of my new blooms.

louis

[Yashodhara]

Louis - LOVE your Electric Red!

Darren - That's an amazing Tahitian Bronze Radiance... Perhaps she's a little piqued that you left her at home? Thank you very much for the virtual vacation (I really needed that!)  

Some more tropical color from my Michigan garden... It's a slice of heaven today: Mostly sunny and 79º - the 'biscus and I are are soaking up the sun and enjoying the breeze.  

[helixturnhelix]

Great blooms everyone!  I cant wait till summer, hopefully when I get my 1 gallons, I will have some blooms to share soon

[davidwood]

Louis - LOVE your Electric Red!

Darren - That's an amazing Tahitian Bronze Radiance... Perhaps she's a little piqued that you left her at home? Thank you very much for the virtual vacation (I really needed that!)  

Some more tropical color from my Michigan garden... It's a slice of heaven today: Mostly sunny and 79º - the 'biscus and I are are soaking up the sun and enjoying the breeze.  

Those colours on the Mauri Masterpiece are amazingly strong, I would think sunny and about 80 must be about perfect for Hibiscus.

[Yashodhara]

Those colours on the Maui Masterpiece are amazingly strong, I would think sunny and about 80 must be about perfect for Hibiscus.

Hi David! Perfect for hibiscus and humans... No complaints about the weather today!  

As for Maui: Neither she, nor any of my other blooming HVH exotics, have ever been outside in the actual sun (except for a quick photo in the evening) - All that color from Maui is from artificial light and good nutrition.  

[SvitLana]

[Charlie]

Deb, I'd be delighted to grow some H arnottianus seeds. The H arnottianus 'Waimaea" that I grow is much more fragrant than other H arnottianus but it does not root well and is very touchy about setting seed. There's always a chance that we could get something more fragrant than either parent with H arnottianus seeds and well worth trying. Another very fragrant hibiscus that I used to cross with H arnottianus was called Pink Poodle, and Australian variety that is very rare or may even be extinct now. I only got a few seeds and nothing fragrant came from that cross though.

Fantastic Maui Masterpiece, btw.

Charlie