Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum

At last my Flickering Flame cv has really come out firing with a slew of buds this spring.

During FF's first year last year (outdoors for all my cvs) it grew very well and was an absolutely beautiful, lush bush with very dark green foliage.  Well branched and a sight to behold even without any blooms. 

It had one bloom all of last year and of course I was out of town for it so I've had to wait about 1 year - but now it's been worth it.

This bloom is an eye-catcher from across the yard with it's day glow colors and pinwheel pattern.  I hated to wait so long but soon I foresee a bush full of blooms all at once.
(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFalme4-22.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlame4-222.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlame4-223.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlame4-224.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlame4-225.jpg)
Farmer D

Flickering flame in beautiful....prettier than the store pic....I want one now...and all of your hibs are so nice and healthy..I think I read that you use super nova with every watering???...very nice :D..Lynette....also mine are all outdoors also...most of them are doing well and budding up...but yours seem to grow so fast...amazing

Hi Lynette,

I wish mine were all lush and pretty but don't be fooled by the close ups.  Most of my plants are still stick looking with a bunch of new growth at the tops of the branches.

I bet ours are probably about the same overall with the exception of Chariots of Fire.  This thing is a monster and nothing slows it down...
(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/NorthPlnater4-23.jpg)

Farmer D

ok I feel better now thanks.....I have been giving more super nova....its just so darn expensive....I also am new to this ...this is my second year and have so many hibs and have around 20 more coming...I am going to try some indoors this year...it is challenging but worth it when I get a beautiful bloom :D

More blooms...
(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/DSC01121.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlame4-25.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlameFriends4-25.jpg)
Farmer D

I will post pictures tomorrow after I take them but this plant makes an outstanding bush with no effort. Now the bad part. It hardly blooms.

Here is the bush. It has been in the ground since last Spring. It has shown me 3 flowers total!

I'm glad you posted a picture of your Flickering Flame.  It looks to me that your plant might need some help.  The leaves should be dark green and pointing more upwards.  Again I'm only judging by the picture but that plant seems rather under-nourished.  It needs some serious feeding and with the feeding it will want more water.  The soil looks too dry for what a hibiscus needs, but from my experience the leaves quickly turn yellow when watered when they are not getting the right nutrition.

My plant is also planted outdoors and it only produced 2 blooms all of last season (it's first year).  This year I have continued feeding it the special blend fertilizer but have added a daily dose of the booster and what a huge difference it has made.  Also daily spraying of supernova to foster branch and new leaf growth.

Currently I have 33 buds on it and it is creating many new branches.  Please see my pic below for comparison.  I live in Los Angeles so you can compare climates.   My plants did lose all of their leaves due to winter cold so you can see it is in the middle of regrowing them.

Also Charlie mentioned that this cv is a slow starter but once it gets going it is solid.  My plant has followed that pattern and again the HVH booster really made a difference when added to the regular special blend fertilizer.

I hope this helps get things on a better plane for you.

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/DSC01942.jpg)

Farmer D
(Darren)

33 buds on Flickering Flame!!!  Nice job all around and thanks for explaining your growing technique for FF.

Charlie

A few more shots of Flickering Flame for comparison...
(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/DSC01957.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/DSC01952.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/DSC01953.jpg)

You can see in the background Bridal Path which still looks like a stick.  This is what this plant looked like a few months ago too.  The more I feed this FF especially with the booster the more water it can take and the growth accelerates along with the bud count.

I wouldn't get down about your FF, the trick is figuring out what it is lacking and get it in top gear.  I really believe these plants all have it in them to be amazing.

Farmer D

Darren could you explain your meaning when you say
 ''The more I feed this FF especially with the booster the more water it can take and the growth accelerates along with the bud count''.

The reason I ask is I have been thinking for a while that my cv's dont seem to be drinking a lot of water, I constantly check and they are very healthy and never dry, but considering the heat here some cv's are watered just every other day. They are also very much on the small side and do grow quite slowly, so your comment above has me wondering, thanks.

Darren, Bridal Path has always been a bit touchy for me even in greenhouse conditions. It can grow into a big full attractive bush but it is also one of the first to get spider mites and lose most leaves as a result. After that it struggles to come back which is typical for a hibiscus that drops its leaves due to spider mites.

Looking at the photo of your plant I would prune one of the longest stems half way back and then compare how that one grows and leafs out compared to the other ones that are not pruned.

Charlie

I'm glad you're interested in this.  I've only recently noticed this but let me explain what I've experienced since growing these plants in ground since last spring.

In the past I've only used the special blend fert when watering my plants.  I always thought my heavy clay soil here holds water well even after conditioning it a lot before planting.  I would feed my plants and it wouldn't take long for them to start to get yellowish leaves looking like they are being over-watered (very similar to LJG's pic of her FF).  Some a lot more quickly than others so I assumed each plant has it's own limits based on it's parent's genetics.  So I would back off to the point that the soil around the plants would get somewhat dry before they would green up again. 

This growing season I have been surprised how slowly all my cvs have been coming back from winter (lost all leaves due to cold) and also how much they dried out and shrunk when I was on vacation for 2 weeks back in May after spraying them with SN at least twice a day for a month before I left along with fertilizing/watering at least twice a week before I left.

When I got back from vacation 2 weeks ago I decided to add the HVH booster for the first time.  Immediately the plants greened up and lost all yellow and started growing a lot faster.  Some of my plants before looked not only yellow but the leaves would get that almost transparent look and have whitish edges as if way over watered (Palm Springs, Rainbow Sherbet and Valentines Day in particular).  So for the past 2 weeks I have been continually adding more booster and water and still no yellowing.  Being my plants are in ground any excess ferts tend to leach down into the soil with the extra water so no signs of too much of either as of yet. 

Now my thinking is that for the past year plus I have been starving my plants hence the leaves that always easily yellow when watered.  With the booster they seem to be able to tolerate or should I say absorb a lot more water and /or ferts, and I mean a lot more water.  Funny thing is our weather here has been very cool all spring long staying in the high 60s or low 70s with clouds for at least half the day typically.  So not a big need for water due to hot conditions at all.  Quite the opposite here so far this year. 

Bottom line so far, the booster seems to be a critical part of an exotic hibiscus' feeding regimen.  My plants have never looked better and I still spray them daily with SN which has helped spur new branch growth so I can hopefully avoid any pruning but we covered that one already in another post.

Farmer D

The increased potassium associated with booster really does seem to make the "slow growers" speed up considerably.  Perhaps they are only slow in that just have a higher potassium requirement for maintenance and growth?

Hi Darren, those yellow leaves are last years leaves. They still have not dropped like most my other plants have. They will continue to yellow at which stage they are easy to pull off. If you look close you can see the nice healthy green leaves coming in.

I'm glad to see you have new leaves peeping out there.  I can hear your frustration with this gorgeous plant and just hope that passing along what has helped mine to really get going this year might do the same for you.

The booster really made a big difference for me and I tried to be as objective as I can to determine what helped.

I wish you much success and progress with all of your plants.

Farmer D

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/DSC01984.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/DSC01983.jpg)

Farmer D

A few more beauties...this CV is really a sight to behold once it gets going!!  Total eye catcher from across the yard...

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/DSC02139.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/DSC02143.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/DSC02144.jpg)

Farmer D

Well, this plant must have taken offense to what I was posting about it.

Holy Smoke Len!!!  That is a dream bush with the ultimate in bud count!!!!  I'm beyond impressed, jealous and super happy for you.  Tell me this is now not your favorite CV?  Once FF gets going it's amazing and out of the 70+ I have my neighbors go nuts over this one the most.

Your plant is now my goal for my FF to be like.  It looks like you have pruned it before?  Reminds me a lot of Lisa's Bridal Path pics from last month.  Your patience paid off and congrats!  That would be the feather in my cap if in my collection.

Please keep posting pics and I am seriously pondering how much these plants can hear or sense what we say about them...

Farmer D

Thanks Darren. Yours is on its way too!

I do prune all my plants early on and every one of them every spring and most in fall too. This one was pinched back in a few places and it really responded as seen.

Just posting a few amazing bloom pics here.  Boy this CV has got some of the most unique color combos that my mind could never imagine until I see them in person.  Just a great CV, if you can get this one get it!

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlameQuads9-14.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlame9-143.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlame9-142.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlame9-14.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlameQuintuplets9-11.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlame9-8.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlame9-6.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlameTwins9-5.jpg)

(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m613/darreneminian/FlickeringFlame8-31.jpg)

Darren and Len, you guys have made believers out of me! Flickering Flame has been rare because I stopped propagating very many of it. Why? Well, it takes the 6 inch pots a long time to bud up and I was afraid it might not bloom enough to satisfy people. Your photos show that not only does it bloom, it blooms extremely well once it gets some size and age. The bush is lovely with the glossy leaves and the flowers as colorful and fancy as they come. Thanks for sharing your plants and photos, it makes a difference to what we will offer in the future.

Charlie

Charlie & Darren,  The last photo (which is a deal breaker for me BTW! Now I want this cv too!! :)) is the only photo I have ever seen of this bloom fully open.  Is it a variety that you would not see that too often? 

Kristen,  in my experience with Flickering Flame it never fluted (like Bon Temps) or Reflexed (Space Oddity)  It opens normally, and is a CV that catches my eye in that it is very ruffly and fancy.  The tufts and ruffles I suppose could make the bloom not appear fully opened, but I promise you they open just like any CV.  If you look at that one bloom you are talking about being fully opened,  it has less tufts and ruffles than a normal bloom does, giving it a different look.  Normally they look like all of Darrens other pictures he has posted of this CV, it is probably one of my favorite CVs in the bright and bold category.  

Oh, that makes sense.  I also am wanting this one... thanks to all the beautiful photos that Darren and others provided.  Thanks

This thing blooms so much it cant hold all the buds and aborts many.

This one was reluctant to bloom when younger, in fact it didn't bloom at all in 2014. It bloomed very well last year and surprisingly, many of the blooms were doubles.