November Flower Photos of the Day

[Doll]

Darren, I was amazed at how much water it takes to keep the ones I have planted in the ground thriving. During the heat of summer I had to go out and water them every two hours. Next year I think I will try using a soaker hose.

[Rebecca]

Happy November everyone!
Here is a beautiful Simple Pleasures and Tahitian Princess. That's a beautiful simple pleasures

I've been using the hvh water soluble fertilizer its such a great producing my flowers use to be really easy to tear but now there strong an more lush green branches growing on my hibiscus spin the bottle here's photo before an now flower first photo before fertilizer

[davidwood]

John I have mentioned before but I find getting the watering right my biggest challenge.
Maybe Cris would like to comment but I seemed to have discovered something a bit strange, its about 20 to 30f cooler now for me here than a few months ago [about 80f now] and my cv's are now drinking far more water, a bit the opposite of what you would expect. Got me thinking that perhaps when its to hot they have a mechanism for shutting down and don't drink or need as much water as you think, it certainly confuses me.

The other thing I have found which I think is interesting and I think Tropical and the tropics has a bit to do with it is the sunshine and rain, I think most people take it has a given rule that you don't water or get the leaves wet when its sunny, well here in Vietnam that's not possible, you can get very heavy rain and then baking hot sunshine within  a few minuets [typical tropical conditions] and some time even at the same time. You would expect these conditions to cause a problem to the leaves but it doesn't, truth be told they actually seem to like it and I have never seen burnt leaves because of it.
Not sure I would ever risk watering in the sunshine as the water out the tap is not good but pure rain interestingly dosent seem to cause a problem.

Maybe John with your water being better rather than drowning the plant every few hours you could experiment with giving the leaves a spray to perk them up, up to you of course but I am now so frightened of overwatering I would be giving it a try.

[farmer d]

David I'll have some feedback a little bit later with what you have posted - ran out of time right now...

Farmer D

[davidwood]

Busy this morning rearanging the garden to make space for Bridal Path, not only is it tall [6 feet] its big all around at at least 16 feet sqauare. Melon Melangi not so big but taller is now giving me a bit more privacy from the new house. I think it looks quite nice.

[Charlie]

David, all that you suggest in your last post is correct, and fits with what horticultural science has to say. You're getting a feel for growing in your conditions, nice job!

Charlie

[Charlie]

I wonder if Charlie has any plans on ever selling this one again - I haven't seen it in the store for 2 years now.

Farmer D

Rodeo Drive sort of slipped through the cracks between 500 or so cultivars and now I have only 1 or 2 smallish plants of it left. Once we get it back up to about 6 plants that will serve as stock for making more we will start offering it again. We've got a few others in that situation, like Quantum Leap, that I hope will be back again in a year or so.

Charlie

[Doll]

David, the rain is similar here. Torrential downpours followed by sunshine. Sometimes it even rains with the sun still out. Never experienced any leaf damage. The grassy area around my plants in the ground absorb a lot of the water. That is the main reason probably for the heavy water need.

Rainbow Sherbert and a 2nd day Hot Southern Nights

[Mike]

Hi Everyone
Today I have a group picture & in it I have a seedling that bloomed for the first time . It looks almost like heavy metal , HM is the one on the left & my seedling is the one on the right .

[Mike]

here is some pictures of my other seedling it's 8 1/2 inches across pretty big

[Ernest]

John and David, I have had the same experience--I frequently spray the plants in bright sunshine and haven't seen any problems.
Mike, congratulations on those two beautiful seedlings.
Tahitian Princess, Acapulco Gold, Hollywood Starlet, and Sizzle.

Erny

[Ernest]

I'm having a hard time telling my Saffron and Electric Orange apart. The first photo is Saffron in shade followed by Electric Orange in sun and shade. Also Hot Pepper, Georgia's Pearl, and Thanksgiving (second day).

[Charlie]

Looking good, Ernie! On average, Saffron is an 8 inch b loom while Electric Orange is 6 inches. Saffron is always solid orange with a white eye while Electric Orange will get yellow spots along the edge during hotter months. During cooler times Saffron might shrink in size and both would be solid orange with no spots, sort of like now, I guess.

Charlie

[Ernest]

For those who are wondering about the quality of bushes these are some of the better ones from those I planted in the ground in mid-summer. I don't know whether good bushes in the ground will correlate with those grown in pots but it seems like there should be some relationship. The first photo is Silver Dragon, then two views of Hollywood Starlet, Sizzle, and Prosperity.

Erny

[Ernest]

A few more bushes. Electric Orange may be one of the best. This one was planted last fall and is now about 6' tall with excellent vertical growth and lots of symmetrical branching. Inner Compass came in a 6" pot and was planted in July; now is about 5' tall with three exceptionally stout verticals and lots of branching and flower production. Delta Dawn was a gift (thanks Chris) as a small plant about 4" tall. It was planted in July an is now about 3' tall with a nice growth pattern.