Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum

Here are my first pics of Sea of Tranquillity after I received the plant last week.

Quite the bloom with a unexpected array of colors and I really enjoy how it changes over the next few days.

Look forward to more blooms that are on the way...

Farmer D

Another 3rd day bloom

Farmer D

Very nice Darren, I notice you have a  Plumeria there giving a bit of shade, I have done simmilar, over the last year I have slowly been growing and taking cuttings of Plumeria so as my garden is surrrounded with them, I can see now its going to work, just not yet, still a bit to small, geting great blooms of them though .

You're right on David.  This corner of my yard is a real hot spot but with the plumeria shade the plant only gets direct sun from about 9am till noon.

I'll be planting a Midsummer Night behind it in the corner.  Should do well in even more shade so the darker blooms won't fade as much and they should stand out well under the canopy of white & yellow plumeria flowers.

Also I discovered that plumeria and hibiscus like much of the same nutrients so I don't mind letting their root systems be really close together.
Farmer D

A few more months down the road and I am just loving this CV.  It blooms consistently and usually they are pointing straight up to the sky.  A great color contrast to the more bright and fruity colors I have in the yard.

Another thing I like about SOT is that when it first open it reflexes a lot and then over the next two days it softens it's colors and actually expands in size a little.  So there is something to look forward to after it first opens instead of just fading from a beginning glory.

Farmer D

There were only a dozen plants of Sea of Tranquility available this year, and they went out to all corners of the globe. I'm sure glad one went to Farmer D so we can all enjoy the show the blooms put on.

Charlie

I got a 4 incher a few weeks ago. It is very "fragile" so far. It gets very wilty with only some sun and did not like the heat wave this weekend. It does stiffen up after the sun and heat passes for the day, so I think it will get acclimated soon. I finally potted it up last night. Hoping to see some blooms by Fall! :)

Reading the above Denise you wont have any problems, its just getting it acclimatised. What I do and you can do if you have the time and want to acclimatise quickly is, when you see it start to wilt bring it in, give a little water [not a lot, no need to drown it every time, in fact if they stiffen up within about 30 mins I dont water at all] and as soon as its ok put it back out and keep repeating, I have done this sometimes 4 times in one day, within a week mine can take any sun thrown at them, I used to bring them in out the sun and not put out till the next day, but this takes a long time and in my opinion does not work as well.

That's very interesting, David. Shows how adaptable plants can be if given the chance.

Charlie

Hi Denise,

David gives some great advice there.  My guess is that if you had one stretch of hotter weather once it passes your SOT should not have as much if any wilting.  Have you seen any sunburn on the leaves (white spots with sometimes some brown)?  That could be another sign of too much sun as well.  

I think the hardest part is having the time to continually monitor our newbies and give them extra tlc until they're in a good routine.

My SOT has gone thru a lot and almost died twice since I got it last spring.  It is now looking very healthy and I think I am done worrying about it.  Here are a few pics one from today so you can see the bush.  It was completely leafless back in April so you can see it is a resilient cv to keep coming back even when I've pushed it to the brink...

Farmer D

Very nice presentation, Darren! Its great that the bush came back so well in the last couple of months.

Charlie

Great advice David, thank you. One good thing about working from home, I can usually fit in messing around with my plants :)

Thanks for the pics Darren. Your plant looks super healthy currently! Any buds yet?

I did a micro check this afternoon and so far no buds which is interesting as prior to changing out the soil and replanting it it would bud a lot but not grow much.  Now it looks to be in pure growth mode which is great as I want this to become a nice big bush over time...can you imagine how incredible this cv would look covered in SOT blooms on a four ft tall plant?  Wow!

Farmer D

Just an update. My plant is no longer wilty and is growing. It actually retained the bud it came with as a 4 inch purchase a couple months back! I was thinking it might drop it as it seemed slightly stressed, but no! So hopefully I'll get to show off a bloom here in a few weeks. Time will tell.

You're right Darren... That plant will just glow when it's covered in blooms!

That's great, Denise.

I've been getting some very dark versions of Sea of Tranquility this summer. They change within a few hours to more typical flowers of this variety but the opening colors in warm shade are like the one below. Pretty striking!

Charlie

Wow Charlie that sure is a dark version of SOT.  My favorite thing about this one is that the second day of the bloom is when I find it to be at it's best.  Mine tend to last for 2-3 days though it is under the dappled shade of my plumeria so that helps a lot.

Here is a pic of mine as of this morning.  It is now getting lots of buds and should be blooming in a few weeks hopefully.  It looks great and is growing very nicely.  Funny how a few months ago it didn't want much of any water and now it is very happy to get watered almost daily.  I have found this to be true with most of my plants so I have to really pay attention to when they make this change...

Denise we'll be posting bloom pics before we know it - can't wait!

Farmer D

Charlie...that is a cool look for it! Darren...your plant is looking great!

Here's mine today:

Mine bloomed today :)

Here are some shots from later on in the day...

Denise that is a nice bloom - your small plant just shows how this CV likes to bloom a lot. 

Mine has been quite a slow grower so far but I really wonder if I have yet to figure out what the sweet spot for SOT is here in my garden.  One thing for sure it likes to keep on budding/blooming consistently.  Also I love how every bloom is different and has it's own personality - never know what to expect with each one.

The following sequence of shots shows how SOT really reflexes a lot more than your average bloom and then bounces back with a lighter look the next day.  A lot of action to enjoy for 3 days per bloom.

Farmer D

SOT cont.

Farmer D

more SOT

Farmer D

Some impressive quads today I thought would be nice to share...

Farmer D

Really lovely Darren.