HVH Hibiscus of the Year

[farmer d]

Cindy & Charlie you did a fantastic job in the Feb 2013 newsletter by going back all the way to 2000 and naming not only the hibiscus of the year but also seedling of the year.  All those selected are amazing hibiscus and very deserved in their place of fame.

One honorable mention I would like to throw out there is Chariots of Fire.  I know the blooms might not be as dramatic as those of the winners but the sheer ferocity of which it likes to bloom is just crazy amazing!  Talk about some seriously floriferous genetics to use down the road...

Hey since I'm in the Hollywood area I wonder if the city would let me start a hibiscus walk of fame on my sidewalk.  Now that would be so awesome...

Farmer D

[Charlie]

Thanks Darren. These are spectacular photos of Chariots of Fire. I just got word that a very large commercial grower who covers the eastern half of the USA is coming out this year with Chariots of Fire in garden centers and box stores like Loews and Home Depot. It must be working for them in similar fashion -  lots of blooms!

Charlie

[davidwood]

Thanks Darren. These are spectacular photos of Chariots of Fire. I just got word that a very large commercial grower who covers the eastern half of the USA is coming out this year with Chariots of Fire in garden centers and box stores like Loews and Home Depot. It must be working for them in similar fashion -  lots of blooms!

Charlie

Its a cv that has a lot going for it, it occasionally throws out a super bloom even in the heat here like this one I had a couple of months ago. To me its the perfect first cv to start your collection, not only is it so easy to grow and take cuttings, you have a hell of a job to kill it haha, its pretty tough and if it is as you say Charlie it could get a lot of people interested in fancy Hibiscus.

[farmer d]

David that bloom of Chariots of Fire is by far the nicest I've seen so far for COF.  That eye is really something special.  I started adding some iron to my feedings in hopes I can replicate some of the intense colorations you always get with your blooms.  I'm thinking the heat there also is a factor too so I don't know how much progress I will make, but worth a shot.

Charlie - I was curious how that works when you are the hybridizer of a cultivar and someone else wants to commercially sell what you have created and sell as well.  Can they just do it without any consent or did you ship them a bunch of babies to start them off?  If that goes well they need to see your HOTY list you just compiled!!!

Farmer D

[Charlie]

Darren, the only way to protect a plant variety is for the hybridizer to patent it - expensive and time consuming. Most top level growers respect the hybridizer's rights and try to work with them rather than just steal the variety outright although there are exceptions.There's no protection without a patent and the rules for patent eligibility are stringent - such as not having shown the variety publicly before applying for the patent. 

I'm working with 2 big growers to release a limited number of HVH varieties to the mass markets. Acapulco Gold is the other one with Chariots of Fire that is about to be shipped in larger numbers. It's a slow process and the hybridizer has little control over what happens to his plants once he gives them over to the grower. Sometimes they rename them to fit their own marketing program, but to me the important thing is that the plants are out there to stimulate more interest in hibiscus and hopefully more interest in our newest varieties found only in the HVH online store. We are a very small operation in comparison to the big growers, but our sales have increased steadily every year and have continued to do so through the economic downturn. That's a pretty good indicator that these beautiful flowers are still growing in popularity as more people are exposed to them.

Charlie

[farmer d]

I totally agree with you both that that could be a good way to a larger exposure to many new customers who probably never knew about exotic hibiscus.  We all love it when we see someone's reactions when they see an exotic hibiscus blooms for the first time.  That is a neat life moment when a grown adult who has seen many things is floored by something they didn't know could exist...and so big at the same time!  I guess those moments might be occurring soon at some big box stores - who would have thought?

Charlie being a smaller scale operation compared to the large corporate growers are you concerned about running out of room at some point to handle higher future volumes?

For a while now I can see how beneficial in this same exposure element it would be for HVH to set up a Facebook page.  I know that you and Cindy are so pressed for time to have to deal with another item to maintain would be extremely difficult.   

What's really amazing is that FB is worldwide exposure for friends of people who would not ordinarily be looking for flowers or hibiscus and all of a sudden on their daily news feed from their friends pops up a pic of an exotic hibiscus bloom.  They weren't googling it or searching for it, just what one of their FB friends posted to FB and it found them - that is a big difference as to looking for it first.  I get dozens of responses all the time from non-hibiscus people going nuts over these flowers pics I post there.  Yep - exposure is the key aspect for sure!

Ironically on FB most of my friends I have never met or heard of before.  They are all hibiscus lovers like us from all over the world - really cool!

Farmer D  

[Ernest]

Darren, I know what you mean about the Facebook exposure. My wife is very active on that and communicates with people all around the globe who are into dog breeding and dog shows. She has started showing some of my hibiscus pictures and gets lots of enthusiastic responses from people who want to know more about these beautiful flowers.

Erny

[Charlie]

Darren, I know what you mean about seeing people react to hibiscus for the first time. I always remember an older man who approached me at an Orange County flower show and with much emotion told me how he could not have cared less about flowers his entire life until he saw our flowers. His enthusiasm for them was inspiring.

You asked about space to grow enough plants. That limitation is already starting to be felt although there are still ways to use the existing space better and more efficiently. We bought the Hemet property, with 5 flat acres, thinking that some day we could move the operation there and build all the greenhouse space we are likely to need or want to manage. I still hope to do that but the cost of building new and modern steel greenhouses is very high. For them to work well they need to be equipped with high tech stuff that is also very costly. The company has good credit but getting the financing to build greenhouses these days is going to be a big challenge. If we ever get it done we will have Open Houses once again.

Charlie