Ideal centerpiece cultivar

[Ernest]

I'm soliciting opinions and recommendations for what might be the ideal cultivar to plant in this spot where it will be the centerpiece in the front yard. It is an oval space about 5' in greatest diameter with a southern exposure and between two very large palm trees. I planted dwarf bananas and a very slow growing plumeria there about 8 years ago. The bananas were supposed to flower and fruit at their maximum size which is about 3' but I have seen neither in the eight years. So my plan is to replace them in early spring with a hibiscus that will perform as a specimen plant. I'm not asking for much--just a great looking bush that flowers profusely with eye-catching blooms. This spot gets a lot of sun but at various times is shaded by one or the other palm. The pictures show it from various angles and a pullback for perspective. I could also enlarge the planting area and possibly put two plants in.

[davidwood]

Well Erny it has to be something that you know will grow quite large, otherwise its going to be dwarfed by those palms, you say plant 2 well if it was me I would plant 3 but all the same cv [1 cv and 2 of its cuttings], that way it will look even larger and there is certainly the room.
As its going to be out there for all the world to see it needs to be strong  a real eye catcher and a prolific bloomer, there are quite a few to chose but I would plant Valentines Day.

[helixturnhelix]

Thats a nice spot you have there Erny!  I would plant three CVs in that spot.  Usually when planing landscapes (my cousin is a landscaper) he usually tries to group things in odd numbers. So 1, 3 ,5.  I think you could easily pick three CVs that complement each other in that spot.  For such a front and center spot in the yard, I would also suggest three bright and big CVs. 

I was thinking Simple pleasures right off the back, but if I remember correctly you already have that CV planted in your yard. 

So going off your wish list first, I would highly recommend Heavens Scent as one CV for this spot.  It grows just like parent Rosalind, and can take full sun without any problems.  Its bright yellow blooms and fancy form would be an excellent solid color for the middle ground of the planter.  Also if you wanted to plant any annuals at the base of the planter, yellow usually blends nicely with almost any color, purple and blue is my favorite.  It also grows in a nice full shape which is perfect.  Further back in in the planter I would plant Acapulco Gold. This is a vigorous CV with a taller growth habit and loves full sun.  The bright multicolored blooms are real eye catchers, and would provide a nice focal point playing on the yellow blooms of Heaven's Scent.  If you choose these two CVs, the third CV should be in the red/orange spectrum of color.  What comes to mind first for me is Flickering Flame, this CV loves full sun and produces huge and bright orange blooms also Black Dream has a nice bush and can push out the blooms! 

If you are entirely set on having one specimen plant, I would say any CVs from the Tried and True list would work great.  Personally I would plant either:

Rainbow Sherbet
Flickering Flame
Valentines Day
Chariots of Fire
Black Dream
Hot Pepper
Rosalind
Island Queen
Bridal Path

I would guess that any of the new CVs that have any of these CVs as parents would also work out nicely for you.  I cant wait to see what you end up doing with the space!

[farmer d]

David that is a great suggestion.  In fact Valentines Day likes to spread horizontally a lot so you could plant something more tall right behind it.  Acapulco Gold would be perfect for that idea.  Mine gets a ton of compliments every week from neighbors walking by.  They even take a lot of pictures of the blooms constantly.

To mix up the colors and also have some non fading eye catchers that bloom like crazy I recommend Flickering Flame and Chariots of Fire.  I nice spread of different colors and they all bloom like crazy and can handle any environment well.

Mine are now probably close to 2 yrs old and are what you hope a hibiscus can be.

Farmer D

[farmer d]

Thats a nice spot you have there Erny!  I would plant three CVs in that spot.  Usually when planing landscapes (my cousin is a landscaper) he usually tries to group things in odd numbers. So 1, 3 ,5.  I think you could easily pick three CVs that complement each other in that spot.  For such a front and center spot in the yard, I would also suggest three bright and big CVs. 

I was thinking Simple pleasures right off the back, but if I remember correctly you already have that CV planted in your yard. 

So going off your wish list first, I would highly recommend Heavens Scent as one CV for this spot.  It grows just like parent Rosalind, and can take full sun without any problems.  Its bright yellow blooms and fancy form would be an excellent solid color for the middle ground of the planter.  Also if you wanted to plant any annuals at the base of the planter, yellow usually blends nicely with almost any color, purple and blue is my favorite.  It also grows in a nice full shape which is perfect.  Further back in in the planter I would plant Acapulco Gold. This is a vigorous CV with a taller growth habit and loves full sun.  The bright multicolored blooms are real eye catchers, and would provide a nice focal point playing on the yellow blooms of Heaven's Scent.  If you choose these two CVs, the third CV should be in the red/orange spectrum of color.  What comes to mind first for me is Flickering Flame, this CV loves full sun and produces huge and bright orange blooms also Black Dream has a nice bush and can push out the blooms! 

If you are entirely set on having one specimen plant, I would say any CVs from the Tried and True list would work great.  Personally I would plant either:

Rainbow Sherbet
Flickering Flame
Valentines Day
Chariots of Fire
Black Dream
Hot Pepper
Rosalind
Island Queen
Bridal Path

I would guess that any of the new CVs that have any of these CVs as parents would also work out nicely for you.  I cant wait to see what you end up doing with the space!

Chris we're on the same page...I like your recommendations! 

BD is awesome as you know I'm a huge fan just worried that the blooms will fade a lot with southern exposure.  Otherwise for sure yes and BP does tend to fade too surprisingly unlike The Path which is one parent of BP.  RS does fade somewhat too in summer but not too bad.  Mine has really blown me away this year with the growth.

Oh crap I almost forgot Prosperity.  Unbelievable bush and prolific bloomer and best part is the blooms never fade or wilt.  They are the most durable blooms I've ever seen...

Farmer D

[Ernest]

Many thanks to those who have offered such great advice in respnse to my request. And a special thanks to Charlie and Cindy for establishing a forum that lets me pick the brains of such knowledgeable people.
David, I've always admired the Valentine's Day blooms that you, Darren, and others have shown so well in your photos. Charlie's description of it in his catalog makes it sound ideal for that spot.
Chris, you are right about needing three (not a hard sell) and matching the colors in a comlementary fashion. There seems to be a consensus about Valentine's Day, Apapulco Gold, and a few others thus far.
Darren, thanks for bringing up the issue of fading in the southern sun. I hadn't really given much thought to that but I think it is a great point. And I'm glad you remembered Prosperity. It also seems to have all the desirable characteristics.
So far I only know two things for sure: I need to enlarge the spot and I need to buy a lot more plants. One thing I had in the back of my mind was Pinot Noir. I recently got a 4" pot size from Charlie and already it is a strong plant with two stout main stems about 13" tall. Any thoughts on that?

Erny

[Denise]

Fun topic! I can't wait to see how you end up doing it! My first thought was either Valentine's Day, Acapulco Gold, or Simple Pleasures. But once someone mentioned three, I thought that sounded like a GREAT idea! Personally, I think yellow and/or orange looks very striking paired with purple!! I think AG, Prosperity and Pinot Noir would be beautiful! Experts, how does PN do with fading?

Keep us posted!

[Charlie]

Erny, you've got a lot of good suggestions here so far. Whatever variety you decide on, you may want to consider contacting us in January to request that we go ahead and transplant to a 2 gallon pot so that when you get it in the ground in May it has as big a root ball as possible. This will help it become well established before next winter and have the best chance of not being set back by cold weather its first winter. Farmer D's Black Dream started out as a 2 gallon and did very well in part due to the head start. Cindy and I like planting multiples of one variety together due to the great look of a very full plant that this creates.

Pinot Noir flowers look best in cooler or shadier places, in my opinion. David Wood's pics from Vietnam show good heat tolerant varieties but he uses a lot of shade so Darren's are more likely to how sun tolerant varieties although not so much heat tolerant as David's. Your conditions are more like Darren's I think.

Charlie

[Ernest]

Thanks Charlie. You're right in thinking that my conditions are probably pretty close to Darren's. I appreciate the insight on Pinot Noir and will find a shadier spot for that beauty. I always prefer as large a plant as possible and will order the 2 gallon size if available. For now I'm going to add Acapulco Gold, Valentine's Day, and Prosperity to my wish list.

Erny

[Nievesgirl]

Hi Ernest we have a similar problem as well lol

Here is my space


I think we can put 5 to 9 hibiscus in that space. I am thinking of these cv's to put there
Cv's that HVH provides :
Acapulco Gold [ for sure ]
confection perfection [ if this one will start growing and if Chris lets me lol]
Black dream
Creole Lady
Cranberry muffin [ is probably definitely it grows so tall and fast like AG]
In love again
Tahitian Princess
Presidential affairs
P's purple
Satsuma [ if Chris lets me lol ]
Simple pleasures
Some like it hot
Voodoo Magic
Any cv that has Creme de cacao I have because these grow fast also, I have  a bunch of CDC kids  



There are probably a lot more on my CV list that can go there. I may try to graft some plants together with similar growth habits.
 

[Ernest]

Hi Kerry. At least it's a nice problem to have--having to choose from a long list of nice cvs. It looks like you have two planters to fill there. Your selections should make a spectacular display. I planted a 20' X 5' rectangular area 8 years ago when we moved from Los Alamitos to Tustin with nine plants that I had in pots for a while--no really spectacular cvs but some nice ones available at that time. My thought was to let them grow together like a hedge and show the different blooms in a display that would look like many types grafted together. Unfortunately I don't have a good photo with lots of blooms since they are now in their winter doldrums but I'm hoping for better results come spring.

Erny

[Doll]

You also might consider Cindy's Heart and High Voltage. Both thrive in full sun with no fading issues. Both also have great bushes that branch out without the need for pruning.

[Ernest]

Doll, thanks for the suggestions. Cindy's Heart is high up on my wish list so I should be getting it just after the first of the year. I'll have to add High Voltage--don't know why I haven't before.
The possibility of a Darwinian experiment is starting to percolate through my brain. I may just take all the candidates and place the pots out there and see which ones thrive.

[Halibut]

A lot of great choices and many already suggested. I would second Cindy's Heart, and add Climax and Electric Orange.

[farmer d]

A lot of great choices and many already suggested. I would second Cindy's Heart, and add Climax and Electric Orange.

How is the bush for Climax?  The bloom is amazing but I remember reading somewhere the bush wasn't as nice as some of the others mentioned above.  That has been what's stopped me from getting it.

Farmer D