Soft spot

[helixturnhelix]

Seeing daves bluebird makes me want to add a lavender bloomer to my collection.  What is the difference between soft spot, p' purple and blue bird?  Their flowers all look pretty similar and are in the same color category.  I guess I am trying to narrow it down to one of those three

[Charlie]

Soft Spot is the best bloomer, rivaling Cinnamon Girl on some days. Better than average, strong bush.
P's Purple is the prettiest bush, more vigorous and tends to be a taller plant.
The flowers of these 2 cvs are very close in size and color. They are both easy to grow, trouble free cvs.
Bluebird has the more complex flower, slightly larger, with subtle variations in color on each bloom. Dave grew a nice bush of it based on the photos but I have had to fight a tendency of it to flop by staking, etc.

My mother grows a Soft Spot in the ground in TX where it is hot and it is far away her best bloomer among the dozen or so exotics she grows. P's Purple has the European heritage which means its ancestors have been used mostly as indoor or patio hibiscus and are very good in that role.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for explaining the difference between the two.  They are both really similar, so the real question is do I want an indoor plant or one that can handle hot sunny conditions

[roadrunner]

My Bluebird plant is staked. I'm using 3 of those green bamboo stakes you ship the plants with. It isn't flopping badly but I need to train it to be more upright a grower because of my limited space and so far this is working nicely.

dave

[helixturnhelix]

The flowers are really pretty, but floppyness is a bit of the problem.  I've been finding that alot of my 4' do best if I stake them for the first few months after I transplant them and I also like the stem to be perpendicular to the pot.  A bit ocd, but it bugs me when it isnt perfectly strait