Belle du Jour

[kris]

My new favorite hibiscus, although its hard with so many great varieties out there, giant ruffled pink blooms.  Even in cold weather the flowers open well.  Does well in both sunny and shadier areas.  So far these are the most elegant blooms Ive seen, and everyones favorite when they see her blooming (which is all of the time).  All around great cv!  If you dont have Belle du Jour in your collection, its the best pink hibiscus out there   I hope everyone has had the same luck ive had growing her.

[Charlie]

I'm sure glad you posted this. I held off posting about Belle du Jour when we started the forum because I wanted to take a photo of our outdoor, full sun, in the ground plant of Belle. Then I forgot to do it and never posted anything. You've pretty much said it all - big ruffled blooms on a strong upright bush. One of Belle's parents is Tammy Faye, a huge almost gawdy flower that the hybridizer said reminded him of the makeup of televangelist Tammy Faye. Whatever, she was large and got your attention. Unfortunately her bush was not solid, tending to flop at the slightest provocation. High Voltage fixed that and we ended up with an excellent bush and flower combo. Below is a photo of a nine inch bloom with a hand in the photo for reference.

Charlie

[kris]

Hi Charlie, I would really like to see a picture of a full Belle bush!  I am amazed that the flowers are lasting so well in this spring weather, with 4 days being the norm.  I did my first cross of the year gator pride and bell du jour.  I would really like to use belle du jour for her texture and size, but with a different color scheme, so I hope some of the seedlings I get this year inherit her traits.  I also got a few pieces of wood from a friend, (high voltage, simple pleasures and silver memories) and just root toned and planted them in perlite. Are these cvs vigorous enough to grow on their own root or should they be grafted? Also I got wood from a simple pleasures cross that was made.  I hope this wood strikes so I can get some pictures of the blooms.  I'm sure you would like to see your best cvs offspring  

[Charlie]

Hi Kris, it sure would be something to get a Gator Pride lookalike but at the size of Belle! Below is a photo of a brand new flower that is a cross of Belle and Saffron. In this case the pink dominated but with a lot of white from Saffron.

The varieties you are trying to root should be fine except for Silver Memories which has to be grafted.

See ya,

Charlie

[kris]

Funny enough the next cross I was going to do was Belle and Saffron, I am just waiting for the two to be blooming at the same time.  Today Belle du jour had a really interesting flower that looked just like a pink colored high voltage bloom, the effect weather has on the texture and color of hibiscus blooms is really fascinating

[kris]

Interesting thing today, I transplanted my Belle last week and had two flowers on open  today but they were mini, about 4 inches across!  Is this due to the stress of transplant or is she lacking some sort of nutrient?  I am feeding bio grow 2-.1-6 and seaweed extract every watering.  Is there another nutrient I should add to increase flower size or is this a byproduct of the stress of transplant? 

[Charlie]

Hi Kris,

Unusually small flowers can result from any kind of stress - cold nights, lack of enough water, transplant, etc. The next blooms will be normal size if the stress has been removed. Also the small plants in 4 inch pots will sometimes bloom with flowers that are small or not showing normal colors. This is just due to the plant size and not really being ready to bloom yet.

The right fertilizer will bring out the best in the blooms and increase bloom number but I doubt if lack of fertilizer would be the cause of 4 inch blooms instead of the norm of 6 inch for Belle Du Jour.

Charlie

[kris]

Hi Charlie,

Thats what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure it wasn't nutritional.  I got another set of small flowers again, but I find them really interesting they are about 5 inches across and are white with a red eye.  The look like a ruffly high voltage!  I hope that the stress of transplant will be over soon, I want to see some large blooms like before the transplant!  My Saffron should be blooming soon and I also transplanted that one so it will be interesting to see what its flowers will look like.  Thank you again for the advice!

-Kris

[kris]

Hi Charlie,

I took some pictures of my Belle this morning, and although the bloom is very small, it looks like it got the pink coloration back.  Im going to try and find the picture I took of the two white Belles. 

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=015b58e75a&view=att&th=121696f2b50ac1c2&attid=0.5&disp=inline&realattid=f_fv16j06u4&zw

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=015b58e75a&view=att&th=121696f2b50ac1c2&attid=0.3&disp=inline&realattid=f_fv16i6f82&zw

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=015b58e75a&view=att&th=121696f2b50ac1c2&attid=0.6&disp=inline&realattid=f_fv16jit85&zw

[kris]

I just realized that those links dont work. 

[Charlie]

Kris, did you try the "Additional Options" link below the message screen when you are writing a message here? After clicking it you just click the "Choose File" button and then navigate to the place on your computer where the photo is and then highlight it and press the "Choose" button. That results in the photo being attached to the message. Seems complicated the first time but after that it is easy.

Charlie

[kris]

Hope this works

[kris]

The flower was about 4 inches across, tiny!

[Charlie]

The pink color rules out the white one I was concerned about, which was always pure white. This probably is Belle du Jour and we just have to wait for some growth and warmer conditions for the size to come out. Have you got it in a larger pot yet?

Charlie

[kris]

Hi Charlie,

I have it in a 10 inch pot now, I cant wait for those big blooms