Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum

March has arrived and with it an increase in blooms in the greenhouse. Too early and cold still for many outdoor flowers so instead of flower photos today here is a photo of 1 table of the 4 inch pots that will start to ship out later this month and in large numbers in April.

Charlie

Cool charlie I should be posting some blooms soon, I should have changed my bulbs because they are old so I did not get  lot of blooms. But ever since I got the 48" fixture I now have probably over 10 buds from simple pleasure  :) I have about 7 from Rockets red glare !

That's super. Simple Pleasures is really good at budding up early and heavily. Rockets Red Glare is not far behind either.

Charlie

I need to get a cutting of Simple Pleasures from my friend.   I will have some pictures to share tomorrow, buds on Sunkissed Blonde and now that I am looking at them, Heaven's Scent and Flickering Flame are starting too!   Luckily it looks like there is alot of new growth since the spidermite infestation I had a few months ago! 

Went a bit pic crazy :P

Sunkissed Blonde and Burnished Gold

Burnished Gold bush

Sunkissed Blonde bush

Sunkissed Blonde

Burnished Gold

WOW im loving the bush on Burnish gold I might have to add this to my list !

Kerry,

Burnished Gold has an awesome bush, blooms alot and the flowers are huge and well formed.  It gets my two thumbs up.  This is also a winter bush, which gets me excited to see how nice it gets over the summer and how much it is going to bloom:)

-Chris

Nice photos, Chris, with excellent light effects. Several people are getting very creative with their photos -it's neat to see.

Charlie

I thought you all might like to see photos from the greenhouse as of yesterday.

The first is one of the area where the 4 inch pots are grown - it shows one table with the 4 inch pots that will start shipping soon. Behind that table are shelves that are holding about 1200 plants grown from seed that will mostly bloom this coming summer.These are the ones that we hope will provide a few dozen new varieties worthy of propagation, meaning those that are improvements on older varieties or show new colors or bigger size or better form or bloom more or have other desirable traits. All 1200 will be moved to 2 gallon pots during March after which they will grow very rapidly and start flowering mid to late summer. 1100 will eventually be thrown away but out of the remaining 100 we surely will find some jewels!

Next are photos of 2 unusual varieties that have retained the juvenile leaf forms they showed when growing from seed. The first is African Princess and the second is Wine Spritzer. A third one named Pinot Noir (no photo) also has retained the multi-lobed leaves. It is still possible that these will change but by the time they reach this stage it is very rare for further changes to occur in the leaves. Usually we only see such leaves as the seedlings grow but by the time they reach first flower the leaves have become normal hibiscus type leaves. The 3 named here all bloomed last summer and have been propagated from cuttings and are now growing out in 6 inch pots and still have these leaves. It's a neat feature, I think, giving the hibiscus plants a different appearance.

Charlie

Wow Charlie!

They really have a different look to them.  Do they both root easily from cuttings? 

African Princess seems to be a pretty unique variety in flower color and leaf shape!

 

Yes, African Princess is very unusual in every way.

All 3 of these multi-lobed varieties are better than average rooters and growers in my conditions. It doesn't always happen that way. There was another one that I had hopes for but none of the cuttings rooted, to my surprise.

Charlie

Thats good to know Charlie,

I bought one for my friend, so I might have to ask for a cutting later.  I just really like the foliage even if it doesnt bloom!  Do you have any bush pics of this one?  or is it all cut up now to make more?

I am also looking forward to those seedlings.  I hope to see some new blooms soon!

Chris, you are asking about African Princess? If so, mature bush photos will have to wait for a couple of months since all older plants of it are indeed pruned back for cuttings, as you suggested. Not sure what you meant by "if it doesn't bloom" for surely it will bloom! My photo is of 6 inch potted plants that will ship in May when they are in bud and bloom. Oh, I get it, you mean even as a foliage plant it is interesting enough to grow for pleasure. Yes, that may well be. I will be disappointed if they revert back to normal leaves but I've never seen it happen this late in the production process.

Charlie

Lol yes charlie :)  I was referring to it being a foliage plant.  If I didnt know that was a hibiscus I would think that it was a papaya plant!  The foliage is so interesting.  Do you ever see variegated seedlings like "Snow Queen?"   

OMG Charlie I am glad you posted these pictures, I thought I has some weird seedlings on my hands.

Here is my seedlings

(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k72/kalibobs/_MG_5405.jpg)

(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k72/kalibobs/_MG_5406.jpg)

Little friend lol

(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k72/kalibobs/_MG_5401.jpg)

Almost never, Chris. Larry Johnson, an old time hibiscus grower in Florida once sent me one he found somewhere or maybe he hybridized it. It was interesting but almost never flowered and wasn't quite colorful enough to be very popular. I had Snow Queen and another one named General Corteges for awhile but nothing came of trying to hybridize with them.

Charlie

Kerry, those are looking good so far. Nice and healthy. Maybe half of all seedlings have a different juvenile leaf form from what they will have as mature plants. One day you will see yours suddenly change and the new leaves at the top of the plant will look like normal hibiscus leaves. It's very rare for the change not to happen and for the plants to retain the odd juvenile leaves - less than 1 in a 100.

Charlie

 I have 2 with the 3 lobe leaves the other two have normal leaves.  this cross is Devil's eye and Blue bayou.  They started out with 5 lobes then now three so we will see what happens once matured. I have Creme de cacao and its the only one with 3 lobes I have. I think that its cool to see african princess and Whine Spritzer with these leaves.

Finally a bloom to photograph. This is the first Valentine's Day bloom which was a new purchase last November in the 4" size pot. I was gone all day so I had to take these with flash. I'm surprised by the bloom and buds since it's only getting about 1 hour of direct sun now with the changing sun angle. It's time to move all the hibs back to the unheated greenhouse, but mornings are still too cold for that.

dave

Very nice, Dave! I hope your mornings warm up soon. Ours are in the upper 40's around dawn most days now, too cold still for the outside plants to do much. In the greenhouse there is a huge difference between nights in the 40's and nights in the 50's. In the 40's the hibiscus sit there shivering but don't go downhill while in the 50's they start growing and blooming again. They are definitely unhappy in the 30's. Almost every day is warm in a greenhouse while the sun is shining which is what hibiscus need to balance out the cold nights.

For those who have not grown Valentine's Day, you might want to consider it. The plant does well and the many flowers are big and eye catching when seen in person. My better half hates for me to post "candid" photos showing the dirt and fallen leaves that are part of any greenhouse but sometimes these are the shots that are most revealing about the nature of a variety so I do it anyway. :)  See below.

Charlie

We had one morning this week with a low of 50 but most are still in the 30s. We had a low of 36 this morning and forecast low tomorrow of 31. Right now half of the collection (about 23 plants) all the 10" pots and larger 8" plants are being shuttled between the laundry room and greenhouse each day. The smaller plants are still inside the house. The greenhouse warms up to about 70 during the day and the laundry room which is unheated usually gets no lower than the 40s over night. I open the door which joins the two rooms after the sun has been up about an hour to stabalize the temperature between the two rooms and move the plants into the greenhouse to get better light, then back into the laundry room about sunset. I guess this will be good therapy to help get the strenght back in my right arm and shoulder from the strange medical condition the knocked me down for 3 months. Usually by the end of March the daily move becomes an infrequent task. Since I've nearly lost all the direct sun coming inside the house, the rest of the collection will probably need to be moved out there by this coming weekend. I probably should have posted this in more detail in "Spring is here, how did we all do getting thru the winter?" in the Hibiscus care section on the forum.

dave

I grow Vday and although it hasn't yet bloomed for me, I quite like it.  Nice bush and it is a tremendous grower! 


Ps-  That's a great photo Charlie!  I didn't even notice the dirt and fallen leaves until you pointed it out. lol

Wow Charlie,

That is a beautiful V-day,  I miss mine, such a nice plant :)  Have you crossed V-day or have any offspring of it?  (my signature question :P)

Here is Burnished Gold today with three blooms!  The big one in the center is a 3rd day bloom,  the blooms on this plant last 2-4 days for me :)

Sign ! This is another CV I have that has not been doing well due to thin pot syndrome LOL

It should take off now I repotted this one like a month ago.

Thin pot syndrome, eh? Good idea to repot.

Kerrie, what do you hear about the new LED lights for growing plants? One of our Russian friends is about to buy a UFO LED light to help her hibiscus grow in the long winters over there.

Charlie

TPS = Thin Pot Syndrome I have discovered that if you buy cheap thin plastic pots the hibiscus do not do well at all. These thin pots don't protect the roots well from heat and cold. Here is a picture of the ones I bought ( from OSH )

(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k72/kalibobs/P1010231.jpg)
(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k72/kalibobs/P1010235.jpg)



I took this pic in Feb but I forgot to post lol

(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k72/kalibobs/P1010171.jpg)

Yeah, those look like the ones that commercial growers use in greenhouses. We pay mostly for the amount of plastic in the pots so thinner is popular up to a point.

Charlie

Hi Everyone,

now that its march, the sun is getting higher and stronger. actually too harsh to get good photos without an unbrella.

However here are two of my blooming plants, a double on pineapple sundae and a single on bridal path. the flowers are getting smaller, maybe someone can chime in on the possible reason. i have not changed my feeding program, using cindy's formulae for indoor plants.

louis

Flower size is really complex, Louis. Even after 15 years growing hibiscus I can't guarantee the size on any given day or even week. Generally the best conditions for big flowers are temps in the 80's and as close to that at night as is possible plus some sun but not too much and of course a well nourished plant that is not fighting disease or insects. Very hot and sunny conditions reduce flower size dramatically but so does very cold and dark conditions. So what about warm and dark or sunny and cold or any of a thousand other mixtures of conditions? Some depends on the variety but conditions have a huge effect, too. If the plants have some water stress just before the bloom opens that can make a difference. Show people have long applied potassium nitrate (HVH Booster) to the leaves of blooming hibiscus a week to 2 weeks before a show in the belief that larger flowers result. Others have noticed that if it gets cloudy just before a bud opens and the opening is delayed by the cloudiness a few days the resulting flower can be huge. Lots of mixes of conditions are possible and hibiscus seem to react to all of them in different ways!

Charlie

Very interesting, Charlie, thanks.

louis

Sunkissed Blonde and Flickerin flame

Very nice picture above of Sunkissed Blonde,first time i have seen it.But the picture sent by Louis is stunning,to have a view like that with all the snow and have Tropical Hibiscus in the shot,amazing.

A few more today.  

Heaven's scent, Flickering Flame, Sunkissed blonde

It might be too cold outside for them, but spring is here inside and many buds forming with the increase in day length and sunlight.  

Chris, I had one very enthusiastic customer in Colorado several years ago. She bought dozens of hibiscus every spring but as expected most were gone by the following year. We didn't stress in the house overwintering as much back then but you are showing that it can be done with great results. Thanks for sharing your photos.

Charlie

I think someone asked about new seedling photos. As mentioned before I don't trust winter bloom colors, particularly on seedlings that are blooming for the first time, so I don't take or show such photos. Often they are taken in winter greenhouses and the colors are just not what anyone will see when the plants bloom in normal conditions. However, we are getting closer to the norm now and I have taken some photos of brand new first blooms recently that may be close to their summer colors. I won't make any decisions about them until I've seen them bloom in June and July.

Here are a few of them that show promise:

1. Born To Be Wild x Allure
2. Rainbow Christi x P's Purple
3. Living Legend x Love Story
4. Living Legend x Simple Pleasures
5. Born To Be Wild x Allure
6. Saffron x Bubble Gum Fun (very large at 9 inches)

Charlie

Charlie,

  I LOVE the first bloom (BTBW x Allure)!

Thanks for sharing those pics Charlie!

I really like the P Purple x RC.  Interesting that it has a white eye and not the dark eye of RC. 

I have been surprised how well all the plants have been doing this winter.  Here is Dragon's Breath this morning.   

Jordan, that first one has a lot in common with Born To Be Wild such as the heavy texture of the bloom. I hope it roots and otherwise does well. BTBW does not root so not many have ever been out there although I did graft some for later this summer.

Chris, good point about the white eye of the Rainbow Christie cross. RC has such a big and dominant dark eye that this is really a surprise. P's Purple has a small and simple lavender bloom but there are lots of hidden qualities in that European style cv that make it good for hybridizing. Great vigor and rootability in many of the offspring although flower size is limited in the first generation. This flower was 6 inches, a compromise between the 8" RC flowers and the 4-5 inch flowers of P's Purple.

I see your Dragon's Breath bloom has some of the black in the red that makes this flower so nice and contrasts so well with the white swirls. The black doesn't always appear in winter blooms, particularly indoors. I'm wondering what effects the altitude you are at has on flower characteristics. If any, the effects must be good ones because your blooms have been excellent this winter.

I had another first bloom on a seedling yesterday that is probably accurate for color. I'm very pleased with this one because I've been trying to find a big, fancy yellow with a white eye. The cross is the new Cosmic Gold x Creme de la Creme and the bloom is 8 inches. I can't speak to the bush or whether it will root but the flower is just what I've been wanting.

Charlie

I too like BTBW x allure cross

Thanks for sharing I love seeing seedling blooms, even tho your not sure on the color. I can't wait to see my crosses and Chris's crosses bloom !  This spring/ summer I hope to send you a lot of seeds lol

Hi Charlie,

I wonder if altitude does have any effect, and interesting thing to look at. 

I like your comment about using European CVs and crossing them to American and Australian CVs, since they are developed independently of one another.  It makes sense that crossing these different regional CVs would produce more vigorous plants, especially since when you look at American CVs there is alot of overlap in the CVs being crossed due to availability.  I know you have used alot of Australian CVs (Gwen Marie and Rosalind) to hybridize, but have you used any Hawaiian Cvs?  I understand that there are few CVs from Hawaii that were developed using their native plants. 

Kerry, I cant wait to see what the seedlings look like, good or bad :)

Charlie I love that Cosmic Gold x,but could you tell me what you mean by a seedling bloom,how old is the plant now?,and just because i am curious what do you do with a plant as lovely as that if it does not meet the standards you set.

Hi David,

When we say "seedling" we mean a plant that is grown from a seed. The seed is obtained by cross-pollinating 2 of our existing varieties. In this case we took pollen from Creme de la Creme and used it to pollinate a bloom of Cosmic Gold. The seeds that formed in the ovaries of Cosmic Gold received half their genes from each of the 2 varieties. Each seed gets genes from each parent but which specific genes are passed is different for each seed. The average seed pod yields 10 unique seeds although it can vary from 1 to about 50 seeds per pod.

 Then we germinate the seed and grow the plant for about a year before it flowers for the first time. That first flower is very exciting because up til then we do not know what it will look like and it can be very similar to one of the parents, an obvious mix of the two parents, or something very different that comes from previous generations or new ways that the genes combine.

The photo I posted was the very first bloom from this new plant grown from seed. It was germinated last summer and has been growing ever since but only now made its first flower. If we like it enough to want more plants than this one from seed we have to clone it by rooting cuttings from it or grafting a cutting from it onto what we call a root stock hibiscus. The clones are genetically identical to the original seed grown plant so of course they have the same flowers as the first plant. We call it a new variety once we give it a name.

We really don't have space to continue to grow the plants that do not meet our needs or expectations so they are usually composted. I've considered offering them to people who might want a "one of a kind" that no one else has because the flowers are usually ok and the plants not terrible. We are trying to improve the species so keep only those that seem to be an improvement of some kind.

Thanks for the good question.

Charlie

my hibiscuses flowerings in March

and last  ;) for today
Charlie, to my mind very beautiful flowers at 2. Rainbow Christi x P's Purple
and 5. Born To Be Wild x Allure

Chris, the contribution of Hawaiian native hibiscus species is interesting to consider. In the article I wrote about the origin of blue and brown colors for the March Newsletter I described the 1913 Bulletin written in Hawaii about the hybridization done there over the first decade of the 20th Century. This is when Hawaiian native species entered the genetic composition of hibiscus. The Bulletin reports on almost 1000 new hybrids created by crossing imported hybrids with both each other and with Hawaiian natives such as H. arnottianus. The results were quite spectacular relative to the hibiscus people were accustomed to at the time.

Since then many of the Hawaiian hybrids were sent around the world including to Australia and the US where they were used to create even more hybrids. Unfortunately, other than the 1913 Bulletin almost no records exist of the hybridization of hibiscus from 1900 to 1950. By that time the use of the same name for different new hybrids was a major irritant to people involved with hibiscus and so the American Hibiscus Society was formed with the primary task of developing a nomenclature that would keep track of names and record information about each hybrid.

Without records for the first half of the 20th Century we cannot trace the contribution of Hawaiian native species to the hybrids created in the main centers of such work in Florida and Australia but there is little doubt that the genes of HI species run through many of the lineages of modern hibiscus.

Of interest, this does not appear to be the case with many of the European hybrids that were developed from hibiscus species brought back to Europe from Asia and the east coast of Africa. These European varieties were developed to be small potted plants used in houses and greenhouses and are characterized by an abundance of small, simple blooms, good vigor, and ease of propagation.

Eventually techniques that study the genes of hibiscus may be able to unravel more about the origins of today's hybrids.

As for my own hybridizing I'm not inclined to go backwards to Hawaiian native species due to the many traits that are considered flaws today. I enjoy growing some of the species for what they do bring but hybridizing with them is not likely to have many benefits and will for sure recreate many problems we have already made a lot of progress eliminating.

Charlie

Hi Manekineko,

Thanks for your photos. Do you live in Japan? Most of these varieties are ones that I sent to Japan several years ago, except for May Way and Mary Poppins. It is so nice to see "old friends" still blooming in whatever part of the world they are growing.

Charlie

Charlie, thank you for good words!
I live in Ukraine. Manekineko, as well as hibiscuses conquer weigh the world. Now an order is organized in Ukraine on hibiscuses and we very hope to get novelties from you.

Ahhh, the Ukraine. Yes, we are sending several hundred plants there later this spring. I am so glad to see the hibiscus flowers reaching so many parts of the world now. Thanks for showing us yours.

Charlie

Hi everyone!
 
Since I'm new to this forum I thought I'd introduce myself real quick. My name is Uli (like Julie without the "J") and I live in Orange County, CA. I currently have 7 different CV's and am anxiously awaiting this spring's shipment of more. Space is an issue for me. I have a small, south facing front yard which gets VERY hot when the sun's out. Even though I'm always worried about somebody "accidentally walking off" with my pots, this is where my hibiscus spend the winter. I just moved them in the backyard, as I finally get some sunlight there again, and I feel much safer (plus the plants don't get roasted during the midday hours)

I'll try to attach some pics of yesterday's Fallen Hero bloom just before the sun disappeared again for the day. Enjoy!

~Uli

Hi Uli I live in so cal also ! I hope you enjoy this forum as much as I do :D

I know how Charlie likes those pics with snow in the background... here is flickering flame :)

Amazing!  These snow pics are classics! Nobody ever sent us any snowy hibiscus photos before this year.

You seem to be having a lot of different cvs bloom now. Are there some you have yet to see?

Charlie

There are still a few that havent bloomed for me yet,  I still haven't seen Dragon's Heart, Byron Metts and Living Legend bloom yet.  Dragon's Heart is forming buds so I hope to see it bloom soon!  I pruned my bigger bushes (Saffron, Belle, Bonnie Lass, Acapulco Gold)  and they all have lots of branches forming.  They should look really great by May/June when they can go outside! 

A question about Flickering Flame:  Does it branch readily or does it need some help with pruning.  The plant itself looks really terrible, two long branches, and now that I finally saw it bloom I was going to trim it so that I could get a bushier plant. 

Want to see what I did to my prize Saffron plant that has been in our garden for the last several years? The first photo below is what it looked like at the beginning of November, 2009. Quite a glorious sight! Then out came the pruners and off came a lot of good wood. The second photo shows what it looks like right now, not much different than the day it was pruned. The third photo is a close up of some of the surviving branches, which shows the new growth that came out in the weeks after it was pruned. This growth, which is all over the plant, hardened up and withstood the southern California winter quite well even though it did not grow over half and inch or so.

I plan to take monthly photos this spring and summer and expect this plant to end up in November looking as good or better as it did in the first photo. This is the second time I have pruned it this severely, the first being in fall of 2008 after which it grew and grew until it became the flowering specimen seen in the first photo. Anyway, we shall see what happens this year as the summer progresses.

Charlie

Chris, I would definitely cut back Flickering Flame. That variety can make one of the prettiest of bushes, with lush dark green leaves and a nice full look.

You still have some treats to look forward to with new blooms then!

Charlie

Wow Charlie,

Your Saffron really gets going after a heavy prune!  I am looking forward to a lush bush later in the summer.  I will take your advice and trim back Flickering Flame, it is a very nice flower and I really am going to look forward to a nice flowering bush!  I think normally I would have had these CVs bloom by now, but they've had a few setbacks this year.  First moving Stress, then I had those white flies and that in turn gave them terrible spider mites.   Most are pruned back with new growth and it was really nice earlier in the week that I went ahead and trimmed the roots and gave my bigger plants new soil.  I also transplanted Dragons Heart into a new 10' pot, so its going to get going anytime now.  It already has several branches, so I am expecting it to bloom alot.  The bush is great on this one too,  reminds me alot of parent HOMH. 

Simple pleasure's first bloom for me

(http://kerrysroxy.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p391012135-4.jpg)

(http://kerrysroxy.zenfolio.com/img/v2/p210627314-4.jpg)

hi charlie, how do you do ?...i'm glad, finally i can find more information about hibiscus, trough  hvh. i'm from Indonesia. i attracted to have some of variety of hibiscus that you offer in you galleries. but the problem is, i live so far from your place. so, maybe if it possible, can i buy your hibiscus plat by the seed. you know, it's more easier for shipment. and if it's possible, how to have it and how much the price ? thanks you...i hope it can be cheap.......thank you very much, to all hvh forum member,....greeting from indonesia...........

Is Safron red or orange?.In the photo above it loks Red yet described in the gallery its orange. I am trying to avoid buying more reds and pinks as i now have quite a few and am on the e-mail waiting list for Safron.

Hi David IMO Saffron is more on the orange side , its like a red orange. Have you seen Electric orange ? http://www.hiddenvalleynaturearts.com/acatalog/electricorange.htm

Its a seedling off of saffron and rosalind and its really bright bright orange. I got this one when Charlie and Cindy restocked.

 David, Saffron is interesting in that the color varies from almost yellow when grown in heavy shade to orange in average conditions with ample sun to a red/orange if full bright sun. The bush I showed the photo of is in direct sun all day with no shade at all. Digital cameras have trouble capturing the exact shades of red/orange and this may be showing a little too red. When someone told me they had a yellow Saffron I was skeptical until I grew this variety under the protection of my covered porch and saw that the color does indeed lighten to almost yellow in that situation. My best guess is that you would find it more orange than red once you grow it. The white eye also sets off the color well.

Charlie

Hi Lubise, welcome to the forum!

I do understand your problem and would like to help. We do not recommend growing seeds unless there is no other way to obtain hibiscus hybrids. Hibiscus hybrid seeds will have genetic traits that come from their ancestors but will not be the same as the parents. In most cases a seed will not produce a flower or plant as special or beautiful as either of the parents. The varieties you see on the HVH website were the best we found after growing more than 8000 seeds. This is the reason we do not sell seeds nor recommend those who do sell seeds.

If you still want to grow hibiscus seeds, you can probably obtain them from the American Hibiscus Society or the Australian Hibiscus Society or the Queensland Hibiscus Society. They provide free hibiscus seeds to people who request them. They particularly like to give them to people in areas where the newest varieties of hibiscus are hard to find, like where you live. Use google to find the web sites of these societies and you will also find the contact information for the Seed Officer of each society. You can also buy seeds from various places on the internet, but some of them are totally fraudulent and you can get good quality seeds for free from the societies.

Good luck, and please show us photos of any hibiscus you grow, whether from seed or not.

Charlie

Hi Kerry,

Did you pollinate the Simple Pleasures bloom? It sets seeds well and I love to grow out the babies from Simple Pleasures due to some unique qualities that I like for commercial growing. BTW, I made permanent tags today for 100 more seedlings that will be potted up to 2 gallon pots tomorrow. Several of these were your Gator Pride x Gator Pride, Cinnamon Girl x Heartbreak Hotel, and Rockets Red Glare x Gator Pride seedlings. The GP x GP are interesting, making lots of side branches already even though they are less than a foot tall. I took a photo of one of them which is below.

Charlie

Two Dragon's Breaths today.  Both pollinated by Flickering Flame :)

It will be interesting to see how GP x GP looks when it blooms.  If it is branching already, its a good chance its going to have a well branched bush and therefore should be prolific.  Now the real question is what will the blooms look like.  I wonder if we will see the "lightening" effect Charlie showed with his GP crosses. 

Great looking Dragons Breaths - should give an apartment some nice color! I haven't done any crosses with Fl Flame yet due to taking too many cuttings from the existing plants so will be interested to see what happens with yours.

Charlie

No I did not pollinate it ( I should have with refrigerated a bloom from 2 days ago) so i could do a cross but all well. I have many buds forming so I will try when these next two open.

Awesome about the seeds I sent you ! I hope we get something interesting that will be a keeper :D  , Also the GP x GP crosses making side branches is interesting. I have a cross from another hybridnizer that is older but branching well. if it does well I will be sure to send you some wood, its pod mate is also branching. This cross is the only ones right now givig me good branches its Georgia's P x Butter pecan :)

The color of DB is super dark ! it looks really nice Chris , as for GP x GP who knows lol Charlie I also found the true parents of GP , you list GP as a 5th dimension cross and its not. Many people on the yahoo group even Curt said it was a mistake and its cross is Pete's prank X Tambion

Hi Kerry,i am now on the waiting list for Electric orange as well. A while ago you wrote how good the HVI special fertilizer was on your plants at work. I decided to try it on my Andeniums in the garden as they had never been fed before,the photo shows what happened . It never flowered much before as i also had a big big problem with mealy bugs,now with the fertilizer and the Bayer tree and shrub it has really took of.

Hi Kerry, thanks for the heads up about Gator Pride. I never thought it was a 5th Dimension cross so wondered where this idea came from. Checking our gallery description I see that it was written by my first web master who is Swedish and writes in decent but not exactly perfect English. She probably got the idea from Curt who did say he thought it was a 5th Dimension cross at one time.

 On May 25, 2004 the hybridizer of Gator Pride wrote this to THML:
"A rain storm wiped out a bunch of my records some time ago, Gator Pride among
them. I moved an old Gator Pride yesterday and noticed an old tag attached to
the bottom. It turned out to be the original bush and had the parentage still
readable!! I always thought it may be Pete's Prank and 5-D because it's edges
change color but was not sure. Well, it is now official, Gator Pride's
parents are Pete's Prank and Tamibon."

Gator Pride may be from Tamibon but Tamibon is an 8 inch bloom and I have yet to see a cross with GP that is as large as Tamibon. Maybe your self crosses will be the first, which would be quite nice!

Charlie

Wow that is awesome that is a tone of blooms !

I found another THML message also but this one above is great !  I hope something bigger dogs come out of it. I was looking up cv's on IHS and recorded the hibiscus I have with the parents that can produce larger flowers. I hope to do some crosses to get bigger blues/ purples.

Blue ballerina I saved the pollen on this one so I will cross it with simple pleasures tomorrow  ;)

(http://kerrysroxy.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p318116062-4.jpg)

(http://kerrysroxy.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p525538669-4.jpg)

Kerry, it's beautiful!

How long can you keep pollen?

Excellent color on that Blue Ballerina! BB won Best of Show mini in Florida over the weekend.

Charlie

Hibiscus - Me-Oh My-Oh, the name is a tounge twister, for sure.

i got this plant as a 4 inch from curt last fall and this is the first bloom. i really, really do like this bloom. the red is highly iridescent. for a first bloom, its big, about 7 inches.

charlie, if you read this, do you have any of this plant in your stock, i would like to get a mature plant.

thanks,

louis

Hi Louis,

Pretty photo, but also read below. I grew some for sale the last couple of years and have a few in 2 gallon pots still. Probably they were pruned back not long ago but I'd have to check to be sure. Two year old plants anyway, and will either be ready shortly or in May if they were cut back. They won't appear in the online store but if you would like one please let me know privately.

On the downside, Me-Oh-My-Oh falls into a category of hibiscus that I'm not real keen on - bad faders. The cool weather color you took a photo of is not seen in hotter weather, not even when it first opens. The color is OK when it opens in summer but it quickly fades. I have some photos of it taken in August of plants in partial shade but even then the color was nothing like what you are expecting. Sometimes it doesn't matter, people are happy with early spring and late fall colors and don't mind the summer colors of bad faders. Anyway, in the interest of full disclosure, below are both a "fresh" bloom and a "second day" bloom in August, neither being what you would hope for.

Charlie

hello charlie,
thanks for the info. we are lucky to have your expertise available to us.

i will pass on looking for another plant, i don't want a fader.

thanks for your input.

louis

Nice Pic Louis!

My DB flowers are still going strong on the plant, is this a 2-4 day flower?  Mine is going on 4 days!

My first midnight flyer and another sp

I pollinated both with Blue ballerina not sure if it will work since i did not pollinate them until 7 pm  :P

(http://kerrysroxy.zenfolio.com/img/v9/p589558017-4.jpg)

(http://kerrysroxy.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p1043739320-4.jpg)

Close up of the shimmer
(http://kerrysroxy.zenfolio.com/img/v10/p1010010993-5.jpg)

SP

(http://kerrysroxy.zenfolio.com/img/v1/p1039230132-4.jpg)

(http://kerrysroxy.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p816720688-4.jpg)

WOW look at that metallic shine on Midnight Flyer!  Charlie I have another cross for you to do... Midnight Flyer x Heavy Metal because both are supposed to have that unique sheen.  Would be interesting to see if it carries on.

Nice photos, Kerry!  Good idea, Jordan. Midnight Flyer could impart some extra vigor to Heavy Metal which seems to reserve all its strength for blooming and doesn't do a lot of growing.

Charlie

Gator Pride,its the first bloom i have had for a month after i repotted using worm castings and HVI Special Fertilizer.The difference in color is amazing,before it was light brown fading to yellow in the sun,now its purple gold orange and yellow and has stayed like this all day.

thanks charlie ;)
i'll try to contact them.....

Kerry, I love your pics of Midnight Flyer - beautiful shimmer!

David, your Gator Pride is beautiful! Interesting what a difference soil can make. Maybe I need to make a little trip for the Open House :)

A couple of pics of today's Belle du Jour, I always love it when this one blooms :) Warning: pic #2 can hurt your eyes! ;)
And since I'm at it I'll add one of Chariots of Fire from a few days ago. 

What a beautiful Belle du Jour Uli! Wish mine was such a pretty pink! For some reason mine seems to always come out white?

Ian

Ian, my baby Belle du Jour looked like that it's first winter, when it was still in a small pot, and in a not-so-sunny window. The flower was small and very pale like yours. Then in the summer and when it got bigger, it turned into a normal Belle du Jour big pink flower. But if yours doesn't get pinker, it could be that you got one of Charlie's seedlings accidentally instead of Belle! Every now and then that happens. I sure don't recognize that flower if it isn't a pale Belle!  If it doesn't turn pink soon, let us know, and we'll send you another Belle du Jour.

Cindy

Cindy, thanks, good to know the white could just be temporary. My plant is still very small so hopefully it will change as it gets bigger. I had wondered at first if it wasn't really a High Voltage but when I compared closely with my High Voltage I came to the conclusion it was a genuine Belle because the texture of the petals is different. Anyway in my cold climate it seems to always be a challenge to get the nicer warm weather forms as spots, splashes and colors often do not look the same.

Ian