Bridal Path

[jpiper82]

Hi Everybody just a few recent pics of my Bridal Path.
enjoy
John

Sorry I posted it in the wrong thread oops!

[farmer d]

I love Bridal Path.  Of all my hibiscus (40+) this is my favorite bloom.  The color combination is just magical.  Pink eye with orange and yellow borders = nice....

Did anyone mention that these are giant blooms up to 10".  I didn't know if that is true until mine starting blooming late summer and they were absolutely beautiful and huge.

The plant is pretty too, standard branching and nice foliage.  My goal this year is to give it extra tlc so it can really get big and make people walking down the sidewalk trip and fall because they were looking at BP instead.

Not much more to say when the blooms can say it themselves...

Farmer D

[davidwood]

A quite stunning set of photo's there Darren. I have just received Bridal Path and I have Valentines Day on the way, but its seeing the pictures of your Chariots of Fire again that reminded me of how it inspired me first time round to pull my finger out. Its true, when I first saw your plants with all them buds I new I should be doing better, and after a little work with my soil mix and fertilizer program, and a bit of moving about for better shade I certainly am, not near where you are yet but am working on it.

[farmer d]

I'm very happy to hear you got BP and that Valentines Day is coming too.  Both CVs will make you very happy once they start going.

My inspiration is the pics from the Australian World Garden.  It is the only ones I can see that show what hibiscus can do when planted outdoors and grown in ground.  Look at those bushes, they are just wonderful with so many blooms.  

My 3 yr goal is to have a solid bush hedge all around my yards of hibiscus 4 ft tall with colors everywhere you turn.

In the mean time I'm working hard spraying the daylights out of my plants with the your SN formula plan.  The plants are only a year old and if they can develop lots of branches now they should become great bushes in the years ahead.

Here is a pic of where my Bridal Path is now.  I did move it once during winter so that set it back a little but it is coming back now as expected.

It's second from the left between Sea of Tranquility and Flickering Flame with the bright day glow bloom.

Farmer D

[LGrove]

Love my Bridal Path, always happy, always blooming and always the star bloomer in my corral!

[farmer d]

Wow Lisa you just made my day.  Bridal Path is my favorite cv and your bush looks perfect.   Look at all those buds!!  I pray one day mine looks a lot like yours.

How old is your BP plant and have you pruned it at all?  It looks like such a nice bushy shape whereas mine is a taller beanstalk shape. 

Also if you don't me asking what type of sun does it get and feeding do you give it? 

Congratulations and thank you for sharing those wonderful pics.

By the way the bush next to it is very nice too.  Curious to know what lovely cv that is...

Farmer D

[helixturnhelix]

Darren, I remember a previous post by lisa that said it was Solar Eclipse.  Not too common,  it is also pretty similar to Sea of Tranquility colorwise.  It seems as though those CVs I used to see three years ago, sell out in minutes now, Solar Eclipse definitely fits this category!   

[Charlie]

Lisa Grove, so nice to see your Bridal Path bush and flowers! Thanks for showing.

Charlie

[LGrove]

Hi,
Yes, the bush next to Bridal Path is Solar Eclipse!

There is something special about the location those 2 bushes are in. West facing side of our garage in the back, so afternoon sun. The warmth from the garage wall keeps them safe in the winter. These 2, plus one other lucky plant in another location survived the deep freeze we had a few years back here in Southern California. Before the freeze I planted my Hibiscus in the ground, no more. I lost over 20 plants that winter, now they are all in pots and get put in the garage when it's too cold out. But those 2 in the ground only need freeze blankets to make it.

I give my plants Miracle Grow once a month during the cooler months and twice a month during summer. HVH special blends are my preferred fertilizers, but I generally use Miracle Grow every other week when I'm using the good HVH stuff.

I faithfully trim all the plants back pretty far at the end of September. No matter how pretty or full they are, they get trimmed back. One reason is they all need to fit either in the garage or under freeze blankets when it's cold, and they just huddle together better without branches on them, plus, when they come back with the heat, they always branch beautifully!

Here is my Bridal Path and Solar Eclipse today, the Daylilies are pretty happy this year too! The amount of buds on Bridal is crazy! My Flickering Flame is proving to be a good bloomer too!

[jpiper82]

Lisa, Great job with Bridal Path!. I had 4 last year that were just magnificant! and grew well in the direct Texas sun all season long.  They did not make it thru the winter as I was stupid. Now that I am a little more educated on how to winter them I will do it again. It is a good plant for Texas
John

[farmer d]

Thank you Lisa for sharing information regarding your beautiful plants.  Sounds like your BP is somewhere over 3 yrs old.  The pruning back each year really shows as the bush is full and well shaped as well as all the buds.  Truly an ideal outcome for your plants - and boy am I glad that was one of your surviving cvs.  Please keep posting pics of your blooms as you can they are beautiful!!

My BP seems rather sensitive to water compared to any other hibs I have.  Charlie mentioned recently that BP is one of the first cvs to react and have issues.  I am wondering if you have had similar experiences with yours?  I can say I have with mine.

I will be looking into freeze blankets later in the season as my plants will be staying in ground so thank you for sharing that.  I might have to get creative as my plants are now getting close to 4 ft in some cases.

Coincidentally I have a The Path cv that is probably about the same age as yours and has been similarly pruned and the results are the same.  Full with a ridiculous amount of buds.  The plant really looks so much fuller it is amazing.

Being my plants are all starting their 2nd year in ground I wonder if they should be pruned down a lot to create a full bush foundation?  I have been spraying them daily with SuperNova in hopes of getting a lot of overall branch growth this season to avoid pruning.  So far so good there.

Here is a pic of my BP as of today.  Again I moved it in the dead of winter to make room for more cvs and set it back some.  Of all my hibiscus this one is the slowest to come back from winter but it finally looks like it will bloom soon.  They are south facing on the west side of my property so lots of sun from late morning to late afternoon.

Slight difference in appearances between ours!!  Flickering Flame on right, SOT on left (planted recently).

Farmer D

[LGrove]

Personally, I find my BP to be very tolerant of all kinds of abuse! It's in the path behind the chairs that the dogs run through, there is dog hair all over my buds! In that planter I water them by flooding them, that's how I water all my planters. I have a series of dams set up to block the flow of water and I water that section daily and fill my sections and let the water just soak in. When it's time for fertilizer, I just pour buckets into it until it's full. I only have those 2 plants in the ground. My BP is probably 5-6 years old, and I trim it down to the thick bark ever year.

John, I bet the plants do well in Texas! It has to be hot there, we are close to 100 all summer here and that's when my plants do the best, most love the sun and the heat brings out the colors!

I think the only way to learn about the frost is by experience! After my big loss of plants due to a very rare, not seen in my 50 years, deep freeze, I learned. It's hard work keeping the plants in pots, they out grow them, when it's really hot here I'm watering them twice a day, but they live through the cold! I literally haul every stinking pot into the garage when an extended frost is due. It takes me longer every year to haul them in and out as my addiction to the darn things keeps growing! I keep them in there until the weather improves.

When the frost is light, I use "Plankets" to cover them. I checked, and you can still get them at www.theplanket.com. They are light weight, easy to fold and store and they really do work! I find the tips of the branches that touch the covers still burn, but you won't lose the whole plant! I have even had the kids run out and cover my plants when I'm not home and an unexpected stronger frost comes along, just more branch burning, but no lost plants! I group the plants together durning the winter when I'm going to cover them. I tell them to keep each other warm and it works like a charm.

Hibiscus are a lot of work, but worth all the effort!
Lisa

[davidwood]

Very interesting read Lisa, Bridal Path looks lovely under the window. I received mine April the first and I have had to re-pot it twice, looks like it will become a lovely big bush.

Not sure about So Cal but I take my hat of to John in Texas, most everyone assumes that its tremendous heat here in Vietnam but I have a close friend who lives in Allen Texas and she says its much hotter there, although here being near the equator the sun is very powerful and I have constant high humidity, very rarely under 70%[ don't know if that's a help or not].
Like you I used to water twice a day but since I started using Perlite [25% in the mix] and shading my pots its just twice in 3 days,and I have seen a huge improvement in the health of all my cv's. Just need to figure out away to get bigger blooms and it will be perfect.

[jpiper82]

David, Allen, TX is next door to me in McKinney, TX
John

[farmer d]

I'm starting to wonder if Bridal Path is a heat lover (more like Cindy's Heart).  I notice with mine that the warmer it is and a lesser amount of water it gets (compared to my other hibs) the happier it seems to be.  Yours being in an afternoon sunny location with a hot wall of a garage would seem to indicate that as well.  Though you do have Solar Eclipse next to it and it looks great too.

I really don't know anything about the parent Wedding Day.  Maybe Charlie or someone who knows could chime in to describe what that cv contributes to this hybrid (no where to be found on the internet that I could see).  I have The Path and it is in a hot spot and loves it so maybe that is the connection.

By the way thank you for the plankets info.  I think I'll be getting some for the upcoming winter.  Thank you Lisa for sharing - looking forward to many more pics from you and your beautiful plants.

Farmer D

[Charlie]

Farmer D, Wedding Day is one of the Australian varieties I imported many years ago. Being a graft only variety and not one of the unusual colors it did not get propagated much the last 5 years. I might still have one but am not sure. The flowers could be very large, up to 9 inches sometimes. Below is a photo.

Charlie

[jpiper82]

I'm starting to wonder if Bridal Path is a heat lover (more like Cindy's Heart).  I notice with mine that the warmer it is and a lesser amount of water it gets (compared to my other hibs) the happier it seems to be.  Yours being in an afternoon sunny location with a hot wall of a garage would seem to indicate that as well.  Though you do have Solar Eclipse next to it and it looks great too.

I really don't know anything about the parent Wedding Day.  Maybe Charlie or someone who knows could chime in to describe what that cv contributes to this hybrid (no where to be found on the internet that I could see).  I have The Path and it is in a hot spot and loves it so maybe that is the connection.

All four of my Brial Path were grown in full Texas sun and 100 deg heat all summer, They always bloomed with only slightly less flower size in the extreme heat. 9 to 10 inch flowers were common,
John

By the way thank you for the plankets info.  I think I'll be getting some for the upcoming winter.  Thank you Lisa for sharing - looking forward to many more pics from you and your beautiful plants.

Farmer D

[davidwood]

Bridal Path is certainly the King in my garden, its developing into a massive bush, I am constantly training it to be full but its still 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide, it has the most amazing glossy green leaves despite the sun here.
Excuse the mess in the photo, I am doing a lot of things there for next season.

[Charlie]

That's the biggest Bridal Path bush I've seen, David. Very handsome, that one!

Charlie

[farmer d]

Some long over due Bridal Path bloom pics.

One thing I learned this past summer was that BP seems to love it really hot but not in direct sunlight.  When we had two months of hot and humid weather it and Cindy's Heart grew the most of over 100+ hibiscus here.  Now that winter has settled in it has become somewhat picky with how much water it wants and has lost some leaves but nothing too bad so far.

I'll get a nice bush shot up soon to show how big it has become.  And lots of constant buds and blooms for quite a while now - even thru winter it seems happy which is a far cry from the last two years.

Farmer D

[farmer d]

more BP

Farmer D

[farmer d]

Farmer D

[farmer d]

This latest bloom is the largest of any out of all my plants so far.  Easily over 10" and just gorgeous!

Farmer D