Hibiscus Houseplant of the Day

[Yashodhara]

Deb, how do you keep your carpet so clean with all those potted plants?  lol

Hi Jordan - Yes, strange isn't it? I would think that I'd be spending much more time cleaning up plant related messes (dirt, stains, debris) from the carpet. But for some reason, things stay pretty tidy. It's almost as if... No, they couldn't be cleaning up after themselves... Could they?  


*Actually, the carpet is a mess, it just doesn't show in the photos... Shadows and strategically placed plant pots act as good camouflage  

[Yashodhara]

Yay! The lastest additions to the indoor jungle arrived safe and sound today, despite being on the road in 100ºF plus heat for many days... And only one yellow leaf to show for their ordeal (so far)    

Attached are  photos of them as they arrived, one in their box and another of them in line up: "Le Chocolat" (tallest), "Legendary Heart" and "Mai Tai" (yellow leaf).  Also, a second day photo of Tahitian Princess (bloom reflexed out to 8"), and another of my favorite dinner guests (there are actually umm... plants in this one).  

[Charlie]

Deb, looks like your Albo is living up to its reputation. If you have a second story you could cut a hole in the ceiling and it would just keep on going.........

I'm also very glad to see your newest shipment arrived in good condition despite the record heat just about the entire journey.

Charlie

[Yashodhara]

Hi Charlie,

Yes, Albo is certainly enjoying all of this heat and humidity (they all are)... But the hibiscus doing the "hoovering" is H. Storckii (Albo is in the bottom left of the vacuuming photo). Here they are side by side: Albo is now 48" tall (on the left) and Storckii is 64" tall (it's hard to tell in the photo, but her upper branch ends where I cropped the photo).  It's really starting to look like a tropical forrest in here... The way these guys are growing, I'm going to need a real greenhouse soon.  

[davidwood]

Love your pictures Deb, if I ever come to America I will pop in and paint your plant pots haha.
My friend Kim Anh  looks at all the pictures on the forum each day and yesterday I had to try and explain what a hoover was, no carpets in Vietnam so she had never seen one.

[Yashodhara]

Hi David,

I'll take you up on that pot painting offer... Right now, I'll be happy if I can just find the time to give them all a good scrubbing (the clay pots, not the plants). 

Ha, ha - Funny about the "hoovering"... This is the time of year I wish I didn't have carpet.

[Yashodhara]

Indoor bloomers for today:

Tahitian Princess Twins
Painted Pony (bloom color is more intense in person: red-orange with hot pink halo)

Still hot & toasty  

[Yashodhara]

Houseplant Bloomers today are:

Cosmic Gold
Psyche
Pocahontas

Deb 

[motherof4]

these are my indoor hibs in my office,,,still arranging things..they are all new hibs...just about the last 3 months so sleeping beauty is my only bloomer right now...they were all mostly 4 inch...growing very well though...I hope mine look like yours soon yash and cindy!...lynette

[Yashodhara]

Hi Lynette-- You found us (hiding in the house)!  

Beautiful blooms, both indoors and out... How do you get any "work" done in your office with such a pleasant distraction so close by?  

~~~~~

So, I've been conducting some lighting experiments on the Eastside Herd: While all get great eastern sun exposure, some get more light from an alternate light source.

Group One gets the most direct sunlight (plants sit under the window). Group Two gets some sunlight, but most is from plant lights (fluorescent bulbs in clamp lamps). Group Three gets the least amount of sun, but LOTS of light from a new T8 fixture with narrow spectrum fluorescent bulbs.

So far, Group One are the best bloomers (however, they are the most mature plants in 6" and 8" pots) and all plants there have buds. Group Two is a mix of 4" and 6" plants; All 6" and most extra large 4" hibiscus have buds (no blooms here-- yet). Group Three just formed three nights ago: All plants placed near it did not have any buds at the time. Today, all of the hibiscus closest to the light are LOADED with buds. H. Arnottianus has refused to produce any buds since I moved her to the eastside back in June... After 3 days in the narrow spectrum lights, she now has at least 3-4 buds per branch (!!!).

I'll keep posting pictures of what's happening in each group. And if my neighbors didn't already think I was ummm... unusual, here's a photo from outside of the room with the narrow spectrum lights (so seventies!).

Deb  

(Cindy - Should I cut & paste this to a different Houseplant topic?  )

[Yashodhara]

Houseplant Bloomers for Today:

Frappuccino (first bloom)
Tahitian Princess
Cosmic Gold

[Charlie]

Pretty eye and rays on that Frapuccino!

Charlie

[Yashodhara]

Double-Doubles Today: Frappuccino & Porcelain Doll
Also, some unwanted house pests also enjoying my blooms  
And an old photo I found while searching for pics to share on FB: My Siamese kitty "Sam" checking out my first hibiscus (July 1989)

Deb  

[Charlie]

Ants on blooms are going for the sap but ants on leaves may be up to more mischief as I just posted in another thread.

Charlie

[Denise]

Deb, I was just browsing the forum and came across your Tahitian Princess pictures that I hadn't seen before and I am lusting after them...hahaha How is she doing currently?