Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum

I woke up this morning to this beautiful display of blooms in my kitchen window, and had to snap a picture!

(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/kitchenchristmas2011.jpg)

From left to right: Bright Hope, Wild Grape, 2 Radiant flowers, Lip Gloss.

3 of these flowers are 2nd or 3rd day blooms, but it still looks pretty! Nice Christmas present. :-)

Here's the same kitchen corner about 3 weeks ago:

(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/kitchen5dec2011.jpg)

From left to right: 3 giant Radiant flowers, 2 Lip Gloss flowers.

The Lip Gloss blooms like crazy and it's still in a 4" pot. I need to pot it up but want to wait till it stops blooming, and it won't stop. It has 3 more developing buds today.

Here's San Diego Sun on Nov. 30, about 2 weeks after I brought it into the house. It has made buds outside in the cold that kept dropping off, but these baby buds finished developing in the warm, toasty house.

(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/kitchensandiegosun30nov2011.jpg)

And here are Rainbow Sherbet and Acapulco Gold blooming side-by-side in our living room:

(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/houserainbowacap2011.jpg)

And some beautiful little Wild Child twins, also in the living room:

(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/wildchildhouse.jpg)

We actually have more flowers blooming in our house, but I need to get to work, so I'll stop. Our new house is an amazing house for hibiscus. It is long and stretched out along the southern exposure, with sunny windows in every room, and tons of direct sunlight. It's giving us several hibiscus blooms every day, which makes the winter so much more fun. I'll try to keep taking pics.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!
Cindy

Cindy, these hibiscus are fantastic!  I finally tweaked my feeding and growing conditions and started using T5 lighting, so I will have some basement hibiscus blooms to share soon. :)   What is interesting about growing in a basement, everything is very consistent (temps, light intensity, photoperiod)  It is very interesting seeing how CVs bloom with all these variables the same, which is not always the case in most growing conditions :)

Thank you for sharing these and Merry Christmas! 

Wow!! Cindy those blooms are incredible. It appears that you and Charlie are living in my dream house with all those sunny windows. 

From Arizona wishing everyone a Merry Christmas !!!

dave

I can hardly wait to see how your T5 lights work, Chris! Keep us posted. Those uniform growing conditions can be a huge asset. When I tweak one variable, I'm never sure if it makes the changes I see, because of light, temp, humidity always changing with the season.

Yeah, Dave, our house is a hibiscus dream! But in the summer, we have to be really careful. With all these windows, we use a ton of air conditioning and our electricity bill was $450 last August! Yikes! So I need to get some good insulating mini blinds and move all the hibiscus outside for the summer next year. OR we need to get solar panels for the roof. Or both maybe. But in the winter, it's hibiscus heaven and toasty warm in this house. I think our new climate is nearly identical to yours. We freeze almost every night here, but haven't yet gone below 30. Today it's supposed to hit a high of 68 - sunny and gorgeous!

I'm so anxious to see the new store pages that I'm already working on them. I couldn't wait till tomorrow! LOL I must be a true workaholic, working on Christmas. But of course, this is pretty fun and creative work.... :-)

Cindy

Cindy a big yikes on that summer electric bill.

Lovely pics Cindy, I really like that San Diego Sun, good luck next week.

Cindy,

I am surprised at how well they are growing and budding up under the T5 lights, and still show fantastic color.  I haven't had any of my HVH hybrids bloom yet, but I am hoping that some of them begin blooming soon, so I can share!

I can only imagine the feeding frenzy on the 30th, I don't think I will be able to play well this year.  My internet on the island I live on is very touch and go, if it decides to go on the 30th it will be sad times :(  I hope there arent too many from my wish list in the store... 

All I can say about that San Diego Sun is: O M G! :) So looking forward to Friday.....I got a shopping pass from my husband for Christmas. ;D

my first Wine Spritzer bloom.

Cindy's Heart blooming in the crowded south facing living room window

Those are beauties, Dave! Even with limited space, you're sure doing a beautiful job!  I don't have a Wine Spritzer here at home. I may have to get one. Now that we live so far from the greenhouse, I want every variety at home and that means in the house over the winter. My addiction is really getting crazy! 

I tried to grab a few hibs yesterday too, but my hubby wouldn't let me, Denise!  LOL He insisted they were for our customers, not me! Sad for me, but good for you guys. Still, I think I'll have to find a way to slip into the greenhouse and get a Wine Spritzer for our house.

Chris, if you don't mind, it would be great to see some pics of your setup in your basement with the T5 lights.

Here are a couple more pics I snapped last week before I got too busy getting the new store open:

'Winter Lights' twins on the left, 'Bright Hope' twins on the right.
(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/kitchen27dec2011.jpg)

'Winter Lights' is really dark inside our house in the cool winter weather!  We didn't know it could get that dark.

This is 'Cosmic Gold' blooming its head off as always:
(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/bedroomcosmic26dec2011.jpg)

I'll try to take some pictures of our setup too. We have these window alcoves in 3 big rooms on the south side of the house with windows on the east, south, and west sides - maximum sun in all 3 rooms!  It's amazingly good for hibiscus. :-)

Happy New Year's Eve!!!!!
Cindy

What!? I say Charlie marches down to that greenhouse right now and grabs his hard-working wife a Wine Spritzer this instant!  ;)

I love that Bright Hope!!

How many days til Spring...? :)

Hi Cindy,

I am in the process of redoing the set up, I have another shelf now and plan on getting two 4 foot 4 bulb T5 fixtures with full spectrum 6400K lights.  the current 2 foot 4 bulb light set will be suspended above under the top shelf, where a 4 foot 4 bulb fixture will be suspended from the ceiling.  I decided on using full spectrum lights, instead of the bloom or 2700-3000K spectrum lights, because the relative intensity of red to blue light in both light types is almost identical.  Full spectrum lights also simulate noon sun intensity (when the light from the sun is most perpendicular with the earth) and for tropicals like hibiscus which don't see a change in relative sun intensity through the seasons, I figured would be fine with this spectrum.  So far I am very happy with the results, there are tons of buds forming and silver dragon is finally taking off!

Photos:

1: New Shelf, yes that is a duck phone from the 80s I got as a white elephant gift... :-\
2: current set up, second shelf is all seedlings ready to be transferred to my new greenhouse space at the university!
3:Buds and more buds!
4: Silver Dragon
5: Sunrise this morning from my tiny basement window!

Cindy, your blooms are looking amazing!  which ones are your favorite indoor growers and bloomers you are growing?

I really like Bright hope, I really think that the simple pleasures is a Rainbow Christie kid,  from my research it seems as though you tend to get really pronounced exaggerated patterns and colors, like that deep eye of bright hope, when you line or backcross CVs.  Two dosages of Rainbow Christie genes would do that!  

Thats what I really like about Fly me to the Moon, (in the pic anyways...) very interesting and pronounced eye like Bright Hope, no surprise since its a backcross to Rainbow Christie!  Oops geeking out on hibiscus genetics :P  

LOL I just read your message to Charlie, Denise!  Hopefully he'll comply and bring me a Wine Spritzer!  :-)))))

Chris, your plants look really green and healthy! The grow lights are working really well. Very, very cool.

I'm not sure what my favorite houseplants are right now.... It changes all the time!   Plus Charlie is always stealing my houseplants to take back to the greenhouse, so I hesitate to point out how good a variety is, or it will be instant Good-bye! But for this fall and winter, these have been my indoor varieties that bloom like crazy, always have flowers on them, and are easy to keep growing and blooming:

Winter Lights - maybe my very favorite of the moment. The blue is very dark in the house every time it blooms, which I love. It often has 2 flowers at a time, and blooms almost every day.

Hot Pepper - crazy bloomer, 3-4 flowers at a time! It never stops blooming.

Cosmic Gold - another crazy bloomer with 3-5 flowers at a time, and always blooming.

African Princess - It bloomed every day for 6 or 7 months till Charlie took it back to the greenhouse.

Bright Hope - Blooms all the time, great bright colors inside the house. The pink is a luscious candy pink inside.

Arabian Princess - Same kind of steady bloomer, and the colors are dark, dark, dark in the house.

Pinot Noir - The flowers are a dark burgundy in the house, smaller, and less ruffly, but it blooms all the time, and I like the dark burgundy color.

P's Purple - Never stops blooming. There's a flower or 2 every day, day in, day out, winter, spring, summer, fall.

Belle du Jour and her babies - Belle was my first hibiscus houseplant love, and still one of my favorites. The flowers are smaller in the house, but the color is beautiful. Our new varieties that come from her, Belle of the Ball and Affirmation, seem to be just as good. Beautiful flowers all the time. Belle seems to pass these genes onto her babies too!

I'm sure there are lots more!  These are the ones I'm looking at right now!  The next time you ask, there will be others.

Cindy,

I am glad you are liking the set up, its shocked me how well these plants are doing under lights.  Deb showed us what is possible, but geez I cant believe how great they do.    I also increased their magnesium and dropped nitrogen quite a bit, seems to have worked well so far.  How compact was African Princess for you?  It is another I go back and fourth with :)

I have a ton of Winter Lights seedlings that I hope will be good indoor bloomers!  

The CVs that bloomed very well for me here in WA (last spring/summer we had no sun for like 3 months)

Raindrop (ranged from lavender to dark purple almost black)

My Blue Heaven (AMAZING indoor bloomer, dark dark blue with white flecks)

Cosmic Gold (Huge orange blooms in the dead of winter)

Corazon (This one, unlike most red and whites, bloomed in red and white during the gloomy cool summer weather)

Muffin Man (Every bloom looked different, but always had bright yellow spotting)

I will have more to report soon, :)

BTW: where are more houseplant pics Cindy?!?!

Lowering nitrogen, raising magnesium, iron, and potassium is what we've steadily done with the Houseplant Formula over the last 2 years too, Chris. It does seem to work well for indoor hibiscus.

African Princess is not a compact hibiscus. It's a very vigorous grower that grows both tall and bushy, with huge leaves. The big leaves are part of why I like it so much - it's like a lush, green, tropical foliage plant, kind of like some of the philodendrons, that also flowers. Honestly, if I didn't know it was a hibiscus, I would never guess that it's one - or even believe that it's one.

Thanks for your list!  I'm going to have to try Raindrop, My Blue Heaven, and Corazon in our house too, along with Wine Spritzer, which I still want to try indoors. Space, space, space.... LOL

I've noticed a big difference with heat in our house too. When I set our central heat at 70-72 every day, we had many blooms every day in every room. Then, for the last 3 weeks, I've been trying to save energy bills by using small space heaters in the rooms where we are, and setting the central heat at 65 during the day. I'm amazed at how the hibiscus flowers dropped off!  In the whole house, with our 50+ indoor hibiscus, we only had 4 flowers yesterday. Even with all our sunny windows, heat still really makes a difference for us. So I'm going to aim for 68-70 now and see if that will produce more blooms.

But with rising propane costs, we may just have to settle for more green and fewer blooms during the winter months! I have to admit that when I had more than a dozen hibiscus blooming in our warmer house every day, I sometimes hardly noticed individual flowers. With only 4 blooming yesterday, I stopped to really notice each one. Strange how that works.

Thats very interesting Cindy,

I wonder if they are just adjusting to the cooler temps?  My apartment in Seattle was not insulated at all, even in the summer it was usually 65 inside, dropping to the low 60s/high 50s at night.  Remember the pictures of the cold damaged hibiscus from inside I sent you.

So the CVs that bloomed for me under those cooler conditions are definitely some to try out  :)

Do you have any pictures of African Princess and bush?  What about Arabian Princess?  Is that one also vigorous with lush giant lobbed leaves?

I am really thinking about Bright Hope now, I sure do love the huge blooms on that one.  How is the bush on it? I am hoping that it is just like Simple P :)

this bloom greeted me today. maybe it sensed the warmer temps San Jose is getting this week.  I don't grow this inside all year just for the winter.
Norm

Nice Some Like it Hot, Norm!  Isn't it fun getting flowers in the house in the winter!

Cindy

I'll try to find some pics of my Arabian Princess, Chris. It bloomed so much, I kind of took it for granted. Now Charlie has chopped it up for wood and taken it back to the greenhouse. It always happens to my best plants!  But yes, it is the vigorous, lush bush with deeply-lobed leaves.

Bright Hope is a GREAT hibiscus in every way. Another that blooms every day for me in the house, and the blooms have vivid colors. The bush is full and really pretty. It's one of my new favorites. Mine blooms with one flower at a time, but it has a flower almost every day, and has since last summer!

Cindy

I always love seeing indoor hibiscus blooms, since that is about all I get to enjoy these days.  I almost like growing them inside because I can control all the environmental conditions.  A true scientist I guess... :)

So yes more pics please

I have a lot more spectacular hibiscus in my house, but somehow this little Bonsai Hibiscus rosa-sinensis always makes me want to take a picture! It has been in a 4 inch pot in my kitchen window for 5 years now:

(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/bonsaihrosasinyr5.jpg)

It started out as an experiment to see if I could make a Bonsai out of a hibiscus. I haven't been willing to make it a true Bonsai by limiting the root growth to a very shallow pot. But 5 years in a 4" pot is a severe limitation for a hibiscus plant. I just keep pruning and pinching, and I water it with houseplant formula every time I water. 

When we moved a year ago, it managed to get spider mites from something in the move, and then it started to go into the spider mite collapse, with growing tips dying back. I dosed it heavily with aspirin, Vitamins B, C, D and sulfur (MSM), root trimmed it, and gave it about an inch of new soil in the bottom of the pot. Now a year later, here it is looking happy and healthy and blooming again, all budded up with more flowers coming.

Charlie thinks I'm nutty to lavish so much care on this little plant, and to keep it so small. But I really want to see how small we can keep hibiscus and for how long!  I haven't been as successful with the exotics, but Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is working really well!

Cindy

Really love seeing your indoor hibiscus jungle Cindy!  I really want to make a bonsai hibiscus too :)

I have a 5 day weekend coming up next weekend, Chris!  I'll try to take some more pics. Jungle is about right! LOL But now I hesitate to put them back outside again in the summer. The summer is so very hot here. I'm not sure if my indoor plants can take all that heat after getting used to being houseplants. We may have to move out of the house to make room for all that I'm keeping inside now!

Cindy

LOL, you better take some sweet pictures with a long weekend coming up!

I have two grow racks and 30 square feet of growing space in a greenhouse, its a problem.  I only have 6 plants and a few seedlings in my room right now, but after spring shipping... it will be a jungle.  Yet I still want more... its a problem.

Cindy, you may just have to keep adding on to the house in order to accomodate all your indoor plants. I grew up in San Jose where the Winchester Mystery House is a big tourist attraction. Mrs. Winchester kept building additions to her house because some psychic convinced her that she wouldn't die as long as she kept on building. The result is a mishmash of stairways to nowhere and rooms with no purpose. At least you would have a good reason for your additions.

I'm developing an appreciation for the indoor plants now; especially since I began bringing the potted plants indoors this winter. We were away for ten days through Christmas and New Year's day and I told our house sitter to put the pots out in the morning and bring them in at night. When we returned she told me that she never put them out because it was cold or overcast. At first I was horrified but then noticed that they seemed to thriving despite the absence of direct sunlight. I love my plants in the ground but will definitely keep some indoors in pots from now on as well. Your little bonsai is beautiful.

Erny

LOL It really is getting that bad, Erny! Our house could end up looking like the Winchester Mystery House at the rate I'm going! :-)

Charlie thought I was crazy when I first moved down here from Washington State and had to have houseplants. When everything grows outside, why would anyone grow plants inside? But my house felt so empty without a jungle everywhere!  So slowly, the jungle has filled up the house again. And now I have a bigger house to fill up! LOL

Cindy

I suppose I have to add to this...  my Heartbreak Hotel seems fairly content in its winter window!  About an hour or so of direct sun, bright indirect light for the rest of the day.  The thermostat is set on 74 degrees F.

On the thermostat note, I noticed that a small change can mean big growth in the hibs.  I had the temperature set at 68 until my better half kept hinting that he was cold.  I cranked it up to 74 and saw an explosion in growth!

I toured the Winchester House at midnight on Halloween one year.  Very cool.

Jordan, your Heartbreak Hotel looks great. We've been keeping our indoor temp at about 68 degrees most of the winter here in southern California. Now I think I'm going to turn it up a few more degrees after hearing about your experience.

My great grandfather actually did some of the construction work on the Winchester house. He was a builder who came to San Jose from England in the 1880s. Although I grew up in San Jose, I had never been in the Winchester house until a few years ago when I took my daughter and two grandsons.

Erny

Beautiful Heartbreak Hotel, Jordan!!!! I love that flower!

Our propane bills are so high this winter that I've lowered our house temp back to 68. Charlie and I are getting solar panels this spring, so hopefully next winter we'll be able to keep the house warm without breaking our budget so badly.

Some of my hibiscus don't seem to mind the colder temps though. Hot Pepper just blooms and blooms no matter how cold the house gets.  Here it is with our 75 lb baby, Gigi:
(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/gigihotpepperhouse.jpg)

Winter Lights blooms almost every day too. I LOVE how dark the colors are inside the house in the winter! Here it is with one flower closing and one flower opening:
(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/winterlights2house.jpg)

Pinot Noir blooms every day in the house too, but the plant is so tall and it blooms up high on the top that I haven't gotten a picture yet. I need to prune it and figure out a better place to grow it so the flowers will show more.

Too Pretty is another huge bloomer. I had this plant outside all summer where it bloomed like crazy. When I first brought it in, it stopped blooming for a while, then started up again about a month ago. The interesting thing about this variety is that it branches like crazy, and blooms with multiple blooms up and down the entire length of the plant. Here are 2 blooms opening and one bloom closing about halfway up the side of the plant. I don't usually like yellow very much, but this one is such a great bloomer that I just love it.
(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/tooprettyhouse.jpg)

These Flickering Flames came from the greenhouse - I haven't tried it in the house yet. But the pic was so cute I had to share it. I can't decide who is more photogenic - Gigi or Flickering Flame. :-)
(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/gigiflickeringflamesm.jpg)

I'd better get back to work! Have a great Sunday everyone!
Cindy

Wow great HBH Jordan!  Looks like you are doing a great job growing it.

Cindy,  that picture of Gigi with those flowers on her head is pricess.  I am always interested in hearing which CVs bloom well in cooler weather.  Though these days 68 sounds hot! 

Do you have Raindrop or My Blue Heaven in the house?  Those bloomed well for me in the cooler Seattle spring and summer last year.  The flowers were also spectacular and saturated under these conditions. 

Thanks everyone!  HBH is becoming one of my favorite cvs.  I do wish it would grow faster...

Beautiful, Cindy!  I brought my Pinot Noir in from the greenhouse earlier this week.  It was doing better than average in the cold, and even has a few buds.  I may have blooms to share in a week or two!  It grows pretty quickly, too.

Our Pinot Noir is in the coldest room in our house, and it's starting to really bloom too, Jordan. I think it likes it cool too. Ours has stopped growing, so that probably means more flowers for a while.

I don't have My Blue Heaven or Rain Drop, Chris. I can get a Rain Drop, but My Blue Heaven sells out so fast that even I can't get one!  I'll try to get a Rain Drop and try it out. I love how dark the blues get in the house. :-)

Wild Grape is blooming steadily too, a bloom every other day it seems like. I'll try to get a pic of it. I like it because it's a tiny plant and blooms that much. It might be another that I can try to Bonsai.

Back to work! Take care!
Cindy

I don't know how I have missed this topic!  It is just my style!  Inside growing for those who have no choice!  Such beautiful blooms everyone.  Jordan, I love your HBH!  Cindy, your Gigi is soooo cute!  I did a photo of Tajah like that with a HUGE Cindy's Heart bloom once, she looked as pleased about the photo shoot as Gigi does!  haha!  Thanks for sharing everyone!

Hi Kristen!  If you ever find that pic of Tajah with Cindy's Heart, I would love to see it. :-) I had to leave a Heartbreak Hotel behind in my hibiscus garden in our old house. I LOVED that plant too, Jordan. It bloomed all the time, and it stayed small and manageable in size.

My Orange you Pretty is blooming with 2-3 flowers at at time in the house now. It's my favorite of the moment maybe.

I have 2 other hibiscus that have this interesting new growth pattern - Too Pretty and Compassion. The main stalk is so covered with baby branches that I can barely see the wood. And these baby branches are starting to churn out the flowers. I'm not sure if I've done something to make them branch this heavily or if this is just what these new varieties like to do. They are pod mates, so it makes sense that they're similar and it's probably genetic. But they didn't branch this heavily in the greenhouse, so I'm not sure what's going on. It might be the combination of genes, lower light, and all the growth enhancer in the Houseplant Formula.  I'll try to snag the camera away from Charlie one of these days and post some pictures.

Cindy

  Here is a pic of Porcelain Doll. It was brought inside from the greenhouse a couple of months ago and has five more buds on it. It is in an east window and only gets sun until about noon. I am very impressed.
Norm
San Jose CA

Haha, it's  almost like they're saying good morning Mom look at what  we did!

Haha those fish curtains, this k 7 had those at one point in time as a kid. Straight from the 90s,!