Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum

Rainbow Sherbet is such a pretty flower, and so well presented on a gorgeous bush that she is bound to become a favorite of many hibiscus enthusiasts. Only available in limited numbers in 2008, we will have more of this well behaved variety in 2009. Easy to grow, strong and upright, 6-8 inch flowers that look even more dramatic in warm weather - what can I say, Rainbow Sherbet is one of our very best new cultivars! Anybody out there have one at flowering size yet?  We'd love to hear from you about your experiences with this new variety. Click on the thumbnail photos below to see the full size version of some pretty flowers of Rainbow Sherbet taken this fall.

Hibiscus dreams on a real wintry day (Thanksgiving '08)

Charlie

Rainbow Sherbert was purchased July of last year (4" size) and is already very impressive. First bloom was probably in early December and was a full 9 inches across and to say the least absolutely gorgeous. All subsequent blooms have been just as impressive and they've been consistently lasting 3 days. Many thanks to Cindy for her recommendation of this one when I was having trouble narrowing down my buy list. The plant is growing in a 1 gallon container inside the house for the winter near a south facing slightly tinted picture window. It shares this space with about a dozen other of these exotics, where my couch usually sits.   Good grief!  The plant is single stem 22 inches tall. I'm still having trouble willing myself to do the necessary early pinching.

Dave

How would one compare Rainbow Sherbert, Bon Temps, and Bridal Path in regards to flower size, color vibrancy, floriferousness (?), ease of growing in pots, etc? I live in San Jose, Ca and grow my cultivars in 2 gal plastic pots so I can move them to a protected area during the winter cold periods.

Hey Ronmcd,

Good question as all 3 are in the same color range and all 3 make larger than average flowers. Bon Temps and Rainbow Sherbet both have exceptionally handsome bushes, with big green leaves and strong branches. Bon Temps probably grows largest of the 3. Bridal Path's bush is nice but has more stems and is slightly less upright. The flower size of all 3 is similar although Bridal Path can reach 10 inches while the others top out at about 9 inches in my location. Both Bridal Path and R. Sherbet are colorfast blooms while Bon Temps can fade to almost silver/white in hot direct sun. The colors hold up much better in shadier conditions. The main drawback with Bon Temps for us has been that the flowers sometimes remain fluted and do not open fully flat unless we help them manually. Bon Temps and Rainbow Sherbet are spider mite resistant while Bridal Path is about average. Any hibiscus can get spider mites but some of them resist damage and are slower to be colonized by mites, at least our mites here in California. Really, all 3 of these are excellent for either larger pots or planted in the garden. I would give Bon Temp some afternoon shade if possible so the flowers would hold their color longer.

Charles

Charlie, or Charles! Which do you prefer?

Thanks very much for the input. What do you consider a "larger pot". I've been using 2 gal plastic pots in which I have a Love Story, a Heart of My Heart, a High Voltage, a Fantasy Charm, and the Purple Crystal / Rainbow Christie that I mentioned in another post. I had some others which I lost in a quick freeze late last winter. I plan on adding some others this year, which brings up my next question. Considering that I keep my plants in pots, is it advisable that I wait for 2 gal availability in mid summer, or later? Or should I reserve them now in 6" pots? Can I reserve 2 gal plants, and if so do we know which ones will be available? I hope I haven't overstepped my boundaries in this subject.

In further testing the boundaries have you had a chance to read my post/question in the care discussions regarding using your fertilizer,booster, and potting soil for other tropical plants, especially Plumeria in 3 gal plastic pots?

I very much enjoy beautiful tropical plants, yours especially!

Thanks again, but please let me know if I should be doing this differently.

Ron

Hi Ron, to answer the first question, my wife and friends call me Charlie. The rest of the world calls me Charles. I feel amongst friends here!

The plants shipped in 6 inch pots in the spring will be ready to be moved to larger pots shortly after receipt. They won't be as large or old as our normal 2 gallon plants but will grow rapidly to that size by the end of summer if transplanted to 2 gallon pots. We don't expect to have very many 2 gallon plants this year, just the occasional one here and there.  We've started some new 2 gallons but whether they will be ready this year or next I can't yet determine. Depends on the variety and how much pruning they need. My suggestion would be to order 6 inch plants now so you are sure to get the varieties you want, and then to check with us before shipping to see if any larger ones are available for substitution. We're happy to fine tune any orders as availability changes, just let us know. You can also use the "wish list" feature that Cindy maintains that is found at http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/pages/waitinglist.htm  This really works, Cindy keeps up with it. Thanks for the questions - we're more than happy to answer them

Charlie

Thanks "Charlie". A person with a passion such as your's is a good friend to have. I will order 6" plants now and check the 2 gal availability later in the year.

Ron

Hey Charlie,

I have one that just reached flowersize, at about 8 inches it was covered in buds.  Sadly we had a bit of a cold snap and half the leaves and buds dropped off...Drats! Looks like its recovering well though, the only plant that has the same vigor as rainbow sherbet is valentines day, which has already grown over a foot in a few months.  Im hoping to get flowers soon, ill keep you posted on how they do here in the antelope valley.  The prelims are good. 

Hi Kris, thanks for the comments about Rainbow Sherbet. I love the way this one grows. You might consider pruning the branches that lost leaves about 1/3 to 1/2 back as this will result is a fuller, more beautiful plant that has more flowers. If you do it soon - say in mid to late February - you will also have even more flowers by mid-summer. When pruning it is best to allow some leaves to remain below the cuts or to cut one branch and when it starts to leaf out then cut the other branches. Sometimes if you cut back the entire hibiscus and no leaves are left it will not be able to generate enough energy to come back. In warm weather with an active growing hibiscus that is rarely a problem but a semi-dormant hibiscus in cool conditions is more at risk.

So far this winter has been kind to us, and only another month to go before we should be out of freeze danger in my area. Unfortunately much of southern California is in that area where we can overwinter our hibiscus outside but it is still cold enough to cause them to lose leaves and suffer tip dieback. They usually come back and look fine by summer but if you can provide any extra warmth it can help. Cindy and I have set up our house so that we can have several dozen hibiscus indoors near windows all winter and really enjoy the sea of green and the flowers that they make all through the winter.

Welcome to the forum!

Charlie

Rainbow sherbert just bloomed for me today, beautiful pastel colors and about 6 inches across.  I cant wait to see the flowers later in the season!

I also wanted to mention how awesome the foliage is on this CV.  It is almost unreal how large and nicely shaped the leaves are.  On my plant they are almost 7 inches across and the flowers are just the icing on the cake  This variety looks awesome even when not blooming.  This cv is really shaping up to being one of my favorites as well.   

Hi charlie,

who were Rainbow Sherbet's parents?

-chris

Kris, Rainbow Sherbert is a "lost tag" variety. sigh......................

Tagging seedlings is one of the weak links in the process. There are so many that do not make it past germination and usually the growing process involves at least 2 transplants before 1st flower comes which takes a year or longer in most cases. This has always meant that hybridizers use the convenience of stick tags that they can write on and stick in the pot. It is easier than you might think for such a tag to get lost or even fade before 1st flower comes. Last year I finally switched to using the type of tags we put on the plants we ship. These are slip and lock tags that won't come off the plant and do not fade. It means typing the cross and number on a computer so there is a lot more work involved (considering we throw 90 percent of seedlings away) but I finally decided it was worth it not to have cases like Rainbow Sherbert in which the tag was lost.

From the looks and performance of the cv I can make the educated guess that it comes from the many crosses made with The Path. The Path was my best seller for the first 5 years we were online - it seems those colors are almost universally appealing to men and women, young and old, etc. A photo of The Path is below.

Charlie

You can see the family resemblance :)  I have already experienced the fading of tags, I have three on Belle du Jour that faded, so they will be Belle du Jour x Unknown. :(

Ahh, Chris, you joined the UNK club eh? Happens to everyone despite best intentions. Sometimes you can be almost certain of the other parent based on the qualities of the seedling combined with knowing what other varieties you likely had blooming at the time the cross was made. Lots of other times there's just not enough info to even guess.

Charlie

Since this is the Rainbow Sherbet forum I am posting a photo of a typical second year bush of Rainbow Sherbet. No blooms today but that allows the shape to show. Big leaves, lush look, it branches but has to be forced to by pruning and pinching while young.

Charlie

yah unfortunately I do not know for certain that cross.  My guess is gator pride or saffron because those were the only two that were blooming at that time.  I also got two seeds out of rainbow sherbet x belle cross I did, which could have some very nice offspring.  I just hope they sprout 

If you have any problems getting them to sprout let us know and no doubt you will get a lot of suggestions and shared experiences.

Charlie

Is Rainbow Sherbet more resistant to spider mites than other varieties? I'm asking this because I've had mites on all my other hibiscuses but no signs of mites or previous mite damage at all on rainbow shebert.

Hi Laura,

Thanks for the input.

It does seem to be true that some varieties of hibiscus are consistently the first to get spider mites and some are usually the last to get them. Some varieties react worse than others, too, by defoliating quickly following a spider mite attack while some don't lost their leaves or take a long time under attack before they do.

For me Rainbow Sherbert is slow to get mites and can withstand them without defoliating when it does get them.

Charlie

I have noticed the same thing with my mite problem.  Moonstruck also seems to be one of the more resistant cv's, or maybe I've gotten lucky with mine.

No, I agree with that, too. Moonstruck is rarely among the first to be attacked.

I wonder what it is that mites see and go for. No doubt it is something we can't see or aren't used to looking for. There are few plants that spider mites won't eventually attack but those that attract them least are of interest for sure.

Charlie

Maybe certain cvs just taste better.  :D

WOW I thought I was the only one noticing this with my CV's

Cranberry Muffin never gets attacked by the mites and Heartbreak hotel is like the last one they touch ! I think Wild dream is never touched either

Never say never where mites are concerned. That said, some are not as appealing to mites as others. Thanks for the report.

Charlie

My Cranberry Muffin had mites for a bit, though seemingly not as bad as others.  I have since lost track of which one of mine is CM, as I bought a bunch of four inchers a few months back and repotted them without the tags.  Grr...

lol My attention to detail is not that great.  I can't tell any of my plants by foliage unless they have really weird leaves.  I could tell my Silver Memories apart from others, but that's about it.  It died from wilt disease though.  :(

Charlie,
Who are Rainbow Sherbet's parents?

Rainbow Sherbet is an orphan seedling, Laura. We don't know who its parents are! It was a little seedling that lost its tag in the move to the new greenhouse. It bloomed while it was still tiny, and got us excited from that very first flower.

Cindy

Below is a photo of the Rainbow Sherbet bush after growing all summer. A photo of it in July is in a message above, and this is it in early November, showing off 5 open flowers at once. The plant is in a 5 gallon pot and the flowers are about 8 inches across.  Rainbow Sherbet is always upright with an orderly growth habit  and the large leaves give it a full and lush appearance.

Charlie

This is my first RS bloom. What a beauty. The colors are so vivid on this variety.
(http://i52.tinypic.com/14e4fg0.jpg)

WOW! How gorgeous is this Rainbow Sherbert!

I agree, what a looker!

I thought I would post some pics here of the Rainbow Sherbet bush.  Charlie had mentioned in the Miss Congeniality post that this CV needs pruning to branch more fully.  I'm sure he is right - nobody knows their hib stuff better!!!

My experiment this year thanks to David in Vietnam is to spray my bushes with SuperNova all season long before any pruning to see if this will trigger new branch growth.  I can say without a doubt this has been a tremendous success with Rainbow Sherbet as it is turning into a monster bush of around 4' tall in it's 2nd year of life (got it as 4" last April).

Note on the pics below that there is an area that was cut back in winter due to dieback disease so we can see what this plant does when pruned and compare it to the rest of the bush which was only sprayed.

This plant has a lot of blooms but many fall off and I suspect it is being over-watered by me and also my sprinklers.  Will be working to fix that going forward.

Farmer D

You know Darren I cant take any credit about the idea of spraying with SuperNova before pruning as that is not what I meant. What I meant and have had success with is spaying with SN before actually pruning, I do it for about 2 or 3 weeks before pruning and then continually spraying the dry bark for a few weeks after , there by keeping any new shoots moist and getting them all to develop into new branches, you are spraying continually instead of pruning and I have never done that. Still you are getting good results so well done and seeing the results of your Rainbow Sherbet which is fantastic I may even try your way.

Darren it would be interesting to see what happened to a cv that you did not continually spray with SN, you do seem to have near perfect growing conditions, in fact I would go as far as to say they would be still great without the SuperNova, the reason I say this is that now I have sorted out my potting mix I am getting great growth, and the only SN I use is 1 teaspoon every Sunday.

David you still get all the credit because if it wasn't for your post I'd still be mixing the SN with my watering feedings and never would have thought about spraying.

After reading your post it dawned on me that if you're generating new nodes that eventually branch then let's see how far I can take it without pruning.  My goal is to get a nice full bush but with some height so not sure if pruning will hamper the height goal.

One last thought, even if I get full bushes without pruning it looks like the bud count may not come close to that of the pruned bushes.  I'll have to decide if I want to wait and see for a few years or prune down towards the end of the season.

Farmer D

This is a very interesting discussion, showing we still have much to learn. Darren's situation will always be complicated by winter while David gets the benefit of year round tropical weather. Pots versus in the ground also makes a difference so as always what works for one grower in their situation may be different for someone else.

Pruning has many uses but it is hard to manage anywhere winter interrupts the growing. I ended up doing it in fall because that brought me flowers earlier the next summer than if I did it in spring. Traditionally hibiscus pruning is done in early spring just after the last threat of a freeze. In hot places with warm nights like the Gulf Coast this works well because the plants grow back so fast. Even so the spring bloom season is mostly lost for the pruned plants.

Now, if a growth stimulant like Supernova can encourage faster regrowth and even stimulate dormant shoots to grow into new branches - wow, that is a game changer! I haven't been able to test that in the greenhouse because I have to cut my plants in order to get wood to make new plants. However, I do spray the baby plants in 4 inch size with Supernova and believe I see more side branching on many of them because of it. This topic will be interesting as more people try out techniques using natural growth stimulants.

Charlie

Here are some more bloom pics...

Farmer D

Those are amazing pictures Darren, how often are you spraying and at what mixture rate per gallon. Also do you ever add SN when you water or do you just use as a spray. I have a young RS and I am going to follow your schedule to see if I can get something similar.

Hi David - to answer your question for the spraying I use a cheapo 32 ounce spray bottle with one capful of SuperNova diluted in water.  I try to spray once a day and I really soak the plants thoroughly being careful not to burn them if during mid day sunlight or leaving them wet after sunset to avoid fungal growth.

My feedings for my mature in-ground CVs is 2 scoops of HVH special blend fert & HVH booster with 2 capfuls of SN in a little over 2 gallons of water probably 3 times a week at most. 

I really alter the amount of fert water each plant gets during each feeding based on careful observation of what each tends to do best with.  It's fun keeping track with over 70 plants and I am contemplating making a spreadsheet to track all of this.

Now that would be interesting, I could track all sorts of components including weather, bud count, bud drop, yellowing leaves, growth, water meter reads, how much water (low med heavy) but I don't have time to measure all these things so I know I'll probably just ballpark it as usual.

One last thing...whenever I see more than the usual yellow leaves I don't automatically think overwatering anymore.  If I see no signs of fert or salt burn then I'm thinking this plant might be struggling to get nutrients.  The booster to me is key as it seems to open up a plant's ability to absorb nutrients much more easily thus requiring less watering over time.

Farmer D

Great photos and interesting input, Farmer D!

David, for sure you can both spray the leaves or soak the soil with Supernova. Or you can do what some call "sprenching" which is spraying and drenching the soil at the same time. That is usually done by pouring the Supernova mixture over small plants and into the pot which both wets the leaves and feeds the roots.

Charlie

Haha never heard of Spenching, I have always fed my plants once a week with SN at 1 spoon per gallon and up until now only sprayed when re potting, at any sign of stress and most definitely before and after pruning, I think it was my observations of the excellent results of spraying continually before and after pruning that kicked of this debate and what got Darren continually spraying as a matter of course. But now because of what Darren has observed I am also spraying much more, concentrating on the cv's that haven't been doing to well, bit early to tell but after about 3 weeks of spraying 4 times a week I am seeing better growth on my slower growers, its certainly seems noticeable on my Dragons Heart.

Thought I would add that I observed during our last heat wave that Rainbow Sherbet really does well in hot temps.  The blooms seems to be at their best with the pinks and oranges expanding in size.  While many of my other hibiscus shrank in bloom size and the leaves showed some stress RS had no problems at all.  And it is in a really sunny, warm spot getting sun from 10 till 6.

Farmer D

some more

Farmer D

some twins shots

Farmer D

Rainbow Sherbert is one of those must have varieties in my opinion. RS has a beautiful bush. Mine is branching out on its own quite nicely with no pruning or Super Nova. The blooms are very vivid and don't fade much even in our Texas heat. This is a bloom from today and we are still getting into the mid to upper 90s everyday. The second pic is the same bloom at the end of the day.

John D, we sure do appreciate this feedback. Trying to develop varieties that do well in the Gulf Coast conditions is one of our biggest challenges.

Charlie

Wow this CV continues to impress me.  My RS bush is just growing like bonkers even in the middle of this really cold winter.  Branching and budding like crazy.  It seems to really like being sprayed with Supernova too.

You can really see how much higher it has gotten since the last round of photos.  It is pushing 5 feet tall (1.5 meters) now and it was just planted as a 4" in April 2010.  Wow!

Farmer D

Darren, I couldn't agree more. I have left RS outside even on nights when it has gotten down to 32. I only brought it in one time this winter when it got down to 27.
It had 2 blooms today and they were both 8"

Very impressive, John D. You guys keep pushing the envelope of what I think I know about hibiscus. Too bad this forum didn't get started 15 years ago - lots of water (experience) under the bridge that went unheralded.

Charlie

A quick update on my Rainbow Sherbet plant.  It is now almost 6 ft (1.83m) tall which would mean about another foot in growth since my last update about 9 months ago.

Here is a chronological progression of bush shots for this year so far.

Farmer D