P's Purple

[Charlie]

This variety is a little different from most hibiscus we offer. Its genes come from the European hibiscus gene pool that for the most part was never mixed with the Hawaiian hibiscus gene pool. Many hibiscus were brought to Europe in the 1700's and 1800's from Asia and islands off the east coast of Africa and those have been hybridized every since to become the commercial varieties that European growers produce by the millions (literally) for the enjoyment of flower loving Europeans. For instance, I read once that hibiscus is the #2 most sold potted plant in Germany.

In any case, P's Purple has its roots in these same hibiscus but has become a popular variety offered by HVH in the US. Below is an excerpt of a message that I wrote for another thread of this forum but worth repeating here since it explains more about the origins of P's Purple.

"I also sort of broke the rule by making P's Purple the official name of another cv. That was the casual name by which I referred to a soft lavender flower that was hybridized by my first web master, Yvonne Forsling, who hybridized it in Sweden and then sent the seed to me to grow out. P was her nickname so we just called it P's Purple as an easy way to refer to it.

What was so unusual about that variety is that the parents were both European varieties and as far as we knew had no "blue" color genes in them. P's Purple has the fine growth habit of many of the Euro hibs, but the flowers are small and simple and I had no idea if it would be popular here. We have been pleased that it sells well and it is turning out to be decent for hybridizing, too. A cross of it with Nightfire recently bloomed with 2 first blooms the first day and 2 more the second day. The flowers are red and purple and 5-6 inches across and the bush is naturally well branched. I don't think anyone has done much hybridizing between the Euro hib varieties and the modern exotic varieties but I believe there is potential there."

Charlie

[Pachrian]

Charlie, just curious, did that cross with nightfire pass the test of time?

I got P's Purple earlier this year in a 4" pot. My oh my has it grown!! The bush is full with many branches and quite tall. It's by far the fastest growing cv I have. Tons of buds are starting to form, promising happy days ahead I can't wait!

[Charlie]

It really is a vigorous bush - the 6 inch pots we grow have to be shipped in different boxes because they can easily reach 3 feet by shipping time. It passed that quality to Sparkling Water, too, (x Vin Extraordinaire) which is equally tall and vigorous.

Charlie

[Pachrian]

The first pic was taken just after I received my 4" P's Purple, April 9.
The second one was today, it's now in a 8" pot.

[Charlie]

Beautiful job growing this one! I see it is budding up well now, too, right on schedule!

Charlie

[Pachrian]

Charlie, the first bud opened today and it's very cute! To my surprise it is bigger than expected, 5.5 inches at opening 

[davidwood]

Does P's Purple need more sun than others to bloom. Let me explain,when i received this bush [yes bush it could not wait to get out of the box] it was obvious it was going to grow pretty big. So after its first bloom i pruned it and moved it to a position under a Prumeria tree to give it dappled shade. Well as the picture shows it is still growing strong and very healthy,problem is not a sign of a bud.Now am i just being impatient[about 6 months] or does it need more sun to bud.

PS. It gets about 1 hour full and 3 hours dappled sun.

[Pachrian]

David, mine gets full sun all day long but until yesterday it hasn't been hot (low 70s). One thing's for sure: P's Purple along with Bridal Path are always looking for water...these guys can drink!

[davidwood]

I am sure you have had nice pictures of P's blooms,my night temperatures are now at there lowest [80f] of the year. So it may be that its not getting enough sun,i will wait and see if i get a few more answers and then i will move it to a sunnier position.

[Pachrian]

Yeah, David, your temps are quite different. Honestly I think that dappled shade should let enough sunshine through. I'd be afraid to move it into full sun. Most of my plants are under palm trees where they get dappled shade from around 10:30 am for the rest of the day. P's Purple just happens to be the one who gets left out.

Charlie, is that really P'sP on the home page of the HVH website? It doesn't look like it. CoF looks fantastic though

[davidwood]

Yes the temperatures are a bit different but i would have thought ideal for growing Hibiscus. 24/7 and all year round lows of 80f and highs of upper nineties,of course i am still trying to get everything else right and i cant do anything about the blazing sun 320 days a year.

[Charlie]

Yes, that is P's Purple. Our photos show it having many looks, sometimes a white halo and light rays around the small eye, sometimes a silver halo, sometimes no halo. The basic flower color can be anything from light pink with a touch of lavender to dark lavender to silvery lavender and other shades I can't even describe. Seems to be affected by temperature and sunlight and probably nutrition, too. Also of course whether the bloom is fresh or late in the day, second day, or cloudy day and so forth.

David, my best guess is that it just needs more time for the new growth to mature to the point where it will bud up. The low light may be slowing that down but it does sound as if there is enough light. P's Purple genes come from plants developed to bloom in north Europe which means lower light. Let us know when it blooms and if you changed the conditions before it did so. Thanks.

Charlie

[Pachrian]

Sorry to go OT. I just realized that on my iPhone I actually do see P's Purple, whereas on my computer it's a different flower altogether, maybe Belle? Strange! I will check what I get when I use a different browser...yup, with IE I get P'sP too.

[Charlie]

Uli, you probably already know but that is caused by your browser cacheing web pages pages on your computer. It does this so it can load them faster. When you force a refresh it will then go to the current page on the website and download the new page. I have to do this a lot when Cindy updates the website, which she does often. On a Mac you hold the command (used to be Apple) key down and press R and then the page refreshes. Not sure on Windows browsers but it's there.

Charlie

[Pachrian]

Sorry I never thanked you for the computer tips Charlie. It's all fixed now and I'm happy to see P's P in the border

I just finished potting up several of my cv's. Can you believe that P's P has gone from a 4" pot in April to a 10"er today with all the other sizes in between. Fortunately it has a bush to match the root ball. This guy is insane!