Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum

I've been getting some requests to post some hibiscus houseplant pics here, so I thought I would start today. Please jump in and post more, all you house-hibiscus growers!

Today's flowers are a new seedling on the left and Belle du Jour on the right. The 10" Belle makes the 9" seedling look small!   

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

Here's the Belle du Jour up close:
(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/belle10inch.jpg)

And here's the new seedling:
(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/08-7235house.jpg)

My house hibiscus used to always be smaller and paler than outside hibiscus, but I keep tweaking the houseplant formula, and finally success!  I'm getting big houseplant flowers with tons of color! My African Violets went crazy on it too. I've never had their flowers be so big either. I should have taken pics of them, and now they've stopped blooming because the sun has moved away from their window. I'll take pics when they start up again. I think the formula is FINALLY good!

Cindy

Cindy is the formula different than the original.,sold in the store????...and if so are you going to change the formula?...because if so I will have to get some...thanks ..lynette...and also very nice blooms!!!!!

Hi Lynette,

The last change was a few months ago, and I think I posted something about it here on the forum. I can't remember. But I have steadily cut down the nitrogen and phosphorus over the last year or so and increased the potassium and magnesium. Everything should be the same as the original formula. I want to keep the plants from growing huge in the house, plus nitrogen tends to stimulate spider mites. So I've been trying to get to the lowest possible nitrogen levels that will still keep the plants healthy, blooming, green, with lush foliage. On the potassium side, I've been steadily increasing it trying to get flowers in the house with as much size and color as the outside hibiscus and greenhouse hibiscus have, and I think I've finally accomplished that too! So hopefully I'll be able to stop changing it!  Famous last words.... I'm always reading new research info and think I have to try to apply it to my guinea pig house plants! Poor babies!!!!!

so you give extra potassium?? or its enough already in the mix??

We've added more potassium to the Houseplant Formula already. There's tons in it now. You don't need to add any more to it.

Since it is way too hot outside, all of my hibiscus are spending the summer indoors as houseplants... Here are this week's bloomer highlights (Three parts - a lot of heat lovers here): Cosmic Gold, Dainty White, the El Capitolios, H. Rosa-sinensis, High Voltage, Painted Pony and Hot Babe. Also, some more ducklings and an "indoor jungle" shot... Just need some green shag carpeting and the illusion will be complete!

Deb  :D

Part Two:

Part Three:

Wow, Deb!!!!!!  Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'll start trying to take more houseplant pics too. I've lived in the cold north mountains so much of my life that I think I can't live without an indoor jungle too. Your pics are INSPIRING!!!!!!!  Hot Babe really is something, isn't it?  And the ducklings!!!!!!!!!!  So adorable!  :-)

Hi Cindy!

Thanks!!! Yes, "Hot Babe" is hot... All that bright neon orange color and only getting artificial light. :D

Since you posted a photo of "Belle du Jour," I thought I'd show you what mine is up to... I got her as a 4" pot last August: She's now 50" tall, in a 10" pot, and still hasn't bloomed... Hmmm... Perhaps you sent me one of those hibiscus-redwood hybrids by mistake? LOL ;)  

P.S. We're supposed to be getting super-high temps this week (100º by Thursday)... Could you hold my last shipment of 'biscus babies until after the heat wave has passed? :P

Wonderful Deb,very funny and I bet it blooms very soon now.

Deb, how do you keep your carpet so clean with all those potted plants?  lol

I knew today was going to be a scorcher, but I had no idea just how bad it was going to be...  :P

I was afraid I was going to be coming home to a herd of really really unhappy hibiscus... Boy, was I surprised (they're loving it!)  :D

Today's bloomers:

Tahitian Princess (first bloom)
Porcelain Doll
H. Rosa-sinensis (2 HUGE blooms, despite 92ºF with 60% humidity inside my apartment)

Deb  8)

Yes, anything up to 95 or so, and the hibiscus love it! Especially with humidity added.  So pretty, Deb!

As far as carpets go, Jordan.... I've almost given up on keeping my off-white carpet clean. I think I'm going to study the dirt color that it gets between the plants, the dogs, and the cats, and then go find a new carpet in that exact color. Hopefully it won't be too icky of a color - some kind of mottled gray and brown, I'm guessing. 

I actually did this once with a floor. I taped white paper to my kitchen floor in rainy Washington and let my 4 dogs track in muddy footprints until the paper was covered. Then I took the paper to the hardware store and picked out floor tile that looked as close to the paper as I could get. That was the best floor I've ever had! It didn't show a thing! Down here in hot Southern Calif, I'm actually wondering if I should replace carpet with tile again. Here the dirt is kind of a golden tan color - not too bad for floor tiles...

lol Cindy!  I'm fortunate that my house is a fixer and at this point I don't care what I spill on the floor.  Last winter when the plants were inside the concrete slab got stained from the iron supplement!  Oh well!  :)

I'm with you on the brownish-dirt-colored carpet.  That will be in my two guest bedrooms-- dark, hardwood-looking laminate will be in the rest of the house.  Eventually it will be a rental so that works perfectly for me.

Hi Jordan - Yes, strange isn't it? I would think that I'd be spending much more time cleaning up plant related messes (dirt, stains, debris) from the carpet. But for some reason, things stay pretty tidy. It's almost as if... No, they couldn't be cleaning up after themselves... Could they?  ;)


*Actually, the carpet is a mess, it just doesn't show in the photos... Shadows and strategically placed plant pots act as good camouflage  ;D

Yay! The lastest additions to the indoor jungle arrived safe and sound today, despite being on the road in 100ºF plus heat for many days... And only one yellow leaf to show for their ordeal (so far)  :D  

Attached are  photos of them as they arrived, one in their box and another of them in line up: "Le Chocolat" (tallest), "Legendary Heart" and "Mai Tai" (yellow leaf).  Also, a second day photo of Tahitian Princess (bloom reflexed out to 8"), and another of my favorite dinner guests (there are actually umm... plants in this one).  ;)

Deb, looks like your Albo is living up to its reputation. If you have a second story you could cut a hole in the ceiling and it would just keep on going.........

I'm also very glad to see your newest shipment arrived in good condition despite the record heat just about the entire journey.

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

Yes, Albo is certainly enjoying all of this heat and humidity (they all are)... But the hibiscus doing the "hoovering" is H. Storckii (Albo is in the bottom left of the vacuuming photo). Here they are side by side: Albo is now 48" tall (on the left) and Storckii is 64" tall (it's hard to tell in the photo, but her upper branch ends where I cropped the photo).  It's really starting to look like a tropical forrest in here... The way these guys are growing, I'm going to need a real greenhouse soon.  :D

Love your pictures Deb, if I ever come to America I will pop in and paint your plant pots haha.
My friend Kim Anh  looks at all the pictures on the forum each day and yesterday I had to try and explain what a hoover was, no carpets in Vietnam so she had never seen one.

Hi David,

I'll take you up on that pot painting offer... Right now, I'll be happy if I can just find the time to give them all a good scrubbing (the clay pots, not the plants).  ;)

Ha, ha - Funny about the "hoovering"... This is the time of year I wish I didn't have carpet.

Indoor bloomers for today:

Tahitian Princess Twins
Painted Pony (bloom color is more intense in person: red-orange with hot pink halo)

Still hot & toasty  :P

Houseplant Bloomers today are:

Cosmic Gold
Psyche
Pocahontas

Deb  :D

these are my indoor hibs in my office,,,still arranging things..they are all new hibs...just about the last 3 months so sleeping beauty is my only bloomer right now...they were all mostly 4 inch...growing very well though...I hope mine look like yours soon yash and cindy!...lynette

Hi Lynette-- You found us (hiding in the house)!  :D

Beautiful blooms, both indoors and out... How do you get any "work" done in your office with such a pleasant distraction so close by?  ;)

~~~~~

So, I've been conducting some lighting experiments on the Eastside Herd: While all get great eastern sun exposure, some get more light from an alternate light source.

Group One gets the most direct sunlight (plants sit under the window). Group Two gets some sunlight, but most is from plant lights (fluorescent bulbs in clamp lamps). Group Three gets the least amount of sun, but LOTS of light from a new T8 fixture with narrow spectrum fluorescent bulbs.

So far, Group One are the best bloomers (however, they are the most mature plants in 6" and 8" pots) and all plants there have buds. Group Two is a mix of 4" and 6" plants; All 6" and most extra large 4" hibiscus have buds (no blooms here-- yet). Group Three just formed three nights ago: All plants placed near it did not have any buds at the time. Today, all of the hibiscus closest to the light are LOADED with buds. H. Arnottianus has refused to produce any buds since I moved her to the eastside back in June... After 3 days in the narrow spectrum lights, she now has at least 3-4 buds per branch (!!!).

I'll keep posting pictures of what's happening in each group. And if my neighbors didn't already think I was ummm... unusual, here's a photo from outside of the room with the narrow spectrum lights (so seventies!).

Deb  ;D

(Cindy - Should I cut & paste this to a different Houseplant topic?  :-\)

Houseplant Bloomers for Today:

Frappuccino (first bloom)
Tahitian Princess
Cosmic Gold

Pretty eye and rays on that Frapuccino!

Charlie

Double-Doubles Today: Frappuccino & Porcelain Doll
Also, some unwanted house pests also enjoying my blooms  :P
And an old photo I found while searching for pics to share on FB: My Siamese kitty "Sam" checking out my first hibiscus (July 1989)

Deb  :D

Ants on blooms are going for the sap but ants on leaves may be up to more mischief as I just posted in another thread.

Charlie

Deb, I was just browsing the forum and came across your Tahitian Princess pictures that I hadn't seen before and I am lusting after them...hahaha :) How is she doing currently?

Hi Denise!

Sorry it took me so long to reply to your post... My computer crashed, and of course the first place I go once I get the new one up is HVH (LOL!)

Tahitian Princess is living with a friend of mine now  :'(... I had a serious outbreak of spider mites late last summer/early fall, and thought the humane (?) thing to do would be to get all of the healthy, unaffected plants out of my apartment ASAP.  All of the plants I gave her are happy and budding/blooming, so I'm going to have to see if she can take some photos when TP blooms again  ;)

Sounds like you did the "humane" thing! :) I will look forward to those pictures!

Great blooms everyone!

Here is one from today ... enjoy!

Norm
 San Jose CA

The next several posts about Dutch Windmill have been moved to the Hibiscus Cultivar Discussion board under topic "Dutch Windmill". To view these posts and photos click this link http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/forum/index.php/topic,719.0.html

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Deb, I'm going to try and give you a run for your money with my new grow space :)

Whoa, Chris... This is awesome! We're going to have to compare notes sometime.  :D

Wild Grape went crazy a couple of days, so I snapped a pic:
(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/wildgrapehouse.jpg)

Also, I finally got my Cindy's Heart back from the greenhouse again, and here it is blooming next to Wild Grape yesterday. I put them together to cross pollinate and thought it was too pretty to pass up the pic.
(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/wildgrapecindysheart.jpg)

One more pic to show the set up in our living room. The sun is so direct and blistering hot in our house that I pull our total black-out shades down by mid-day. Our house could be a greenhouse! Our living room has many windows on 3 out of the 4 sides - east, south, and west. So it's sunny all day long, in all seasons.
(http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/images/wildgrapelivingroom.jpg)

The hibiscus that are outside have to be protected from our desert sun on a porch. I'll try to snap some pics of them this week too. When they bloom, I pick the flowers and bring them inside so they don't get cooked in the sun, and I'm using a bugblaster on them almost every day to cool them down. There's definitely a learning curve learning how to grow hibiscus in a hot desert climate - especially for a northern mountain girl!

Cindy

Seems like we switched Cindy!  I was growing hibiscus in the high dessert of California, then Colorado both dry and hot places.  Now I am in cool and wet WA where it hasnt been warm enough to put them outside this year!

Your wild grape is fantastic!  I bet you will get some very nice pink seedlings from that cross with Cindy's Heart.  :)