Customer Photos
Every now and then a customer sends us photos of our plants growing in their home or garden, and we always love this! Others post their photos on Facebook or Instagram, which we also love. Hibiscus pigments are so variable that they sometimes have different looks in different settings, and it is really great for us to get to see how they respond to different environments and care regimens. We thought it might be fun for you to see some of our hibiscus in other settings too.
This came last spring from Rob in Mississippi:
Just had to share this photo of 'Jupiter' that has literally bloomed its head off ALL WINTER LONG in my greenhouse!! It regularly gets down to 50°F (10°C) in there in January and February, but this one does not seem to care!!
The cold temperatures in Rob's greenhouse have brought out the red pigments and turned Jupiter more orange than yellow, which is a beautiful winter look. But the greenhouse is so sunny, as you can see in this photo, that the yellows are well developed too. So all in all, this Jupiter is looking its very best and blooming like crazy at a time of year when you would least expect it to be at peak performance levels. It's nice to know that Jupiter makes a great hibiscus for winter gardens for sure!
The photo of 'Confection Perfection' twins below came from Kevin's backyard in Virginia in summer. The photo at right came from Thomas' backyard in Inland Southern California in summer. You can see from how dark green Kevin's backyard below is that it's a place with plenty of humidity and ideal temperatures in summer for hibiscus. Thomas' backyard is very hot and dry through the summer, which is much more stressful for hibiscus. But the flowers look equally good and almost identical in both settings. One of the most interesting things about 'Confection Perfection' is how consistent it is in all different kinds of climates. No matter where people send us photos of this cultivar from, the flowers always look very, very similar. The golden edge can be more lemon yellow or more golden orange, but the contrast between the bright pink and the golden edge is always strong. It's a rare hibiscus that has this kind of consistency, so 'Confection Perfection' has truly earned the name "perfection."
The photo above is 'Rags to Riches' blooming in our greenhouse with very typical blooms that we see every day. The photos at right and below are from Anita who recently moved from California to Arizona. In California, Anita used to send us photos that looked like ours. But since she has moved to Arizona, all her photos have been very different. Now she has to grow her hibiscus under her covered patio because, in Arizona heat, any direct sunlight can burn the flowers up within minutes, even in the morning. So her hibiscus get very high heat with very little direct sun, which makes for very strange and interesting flower colors.
Instead of a vivid red flower with bright yellow spots, 'Rags to Riches' in high heat in June is a softer orange due to low levels of direct sunlight. It takes a lot of direct sunlight to create the spots, splashes and markings on hibiscus flowers, so without direct sun, this flower couldn't develop its yellow spots. So it looks a lot like 'Rags to Riches' typically looks in wintertime or early spring in California when it is cold and cloudy with very little sun.
But below is an even stranger example of 'Rags to Riches' in the extreme 107°F (42°C) heat of July. With so little direct sunlight and such high heat, the flower is beautiful still, but getting smaller, and the colors are completely different from the typical 'Rags to Riches' we see in California. Instead of a red flower, or even an orange one, the flower has become completely yellow. The pink eye is normally there when the flower is red, but it's barely noticeable. On this soft yellow flower, the pink eye has actually become a focal point. The photo stunned us when we saw it. We had never seen 'Rags to Riches' look anything like this!
This 'Carmel Dawn' photo is from George in Florida. In his summer high heat, his flowers often drop their buds, but this 'Carmel Dawn' bloomed in all its glory in August. Florida is another nearly ideal location for hibiscus for much of the year, so flowers there tend to show very strong colors and good size.
This is 'Amelia Earhart' blooming at the opposite far north end of the country in Michigan. Jodi's hibiscus spend much of the year in her little indoor garage greenhouse, and only get 2-3 months of outdoor time each year. This is 'Amelia Earhart' blooming in its pot in her flower box in July. The flower's colors are softer than we typically see in our greenhouse, but all the colors are there and in the right places, just slightly softer. This seems to be typical for flowers in the far north that only get outside for a short summer each year. The colors can be beautiful and perfect, but the flowers tend to be a bit smaller, and many times the colors are softer than they would be in a more intense climate.
Our final photo comes from Hawaii, a mature 'Love Story' plant provided by Sally. Of course, Hawaii has the exact, perfect climate for hibiscus since the tropical islands are where hibiscus came from. So of course 'Love Story' looks perfect and gorgeous there! When we want to see what our hibiscus would look like in their true native climate, we look at photos from all the tropical islands, since this is the native habitat for all our hibiscus.
Our goal is always to create hybrids, like 'Confection Perfection,' that have their optimal native presentation in all settings all over the planet. We're working hard to get there, but it's the work of a lifetime, and others will have to continue it long after we're gone. In the meantime, just growing and hybridizing these beauties is a lifetime of fun and so much beauty. But if you have hibiscus photos you would like to share with us, please send them. You can reply to any email you ever get from us - all email goes to a human, and all photos end up going to Cindy! We would love to see your photos, and never get tired of seeing our beauties growing all over the world.
Seedling of the Month . . .
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Our newest Seedling of the Month doesn't need much explanation! It's a beauty for sure! The flowers are large 7-9" singles with variable rings of yellow, orange, brown and dark red around a burgundy eye. The yellow is the most variable color, and so far we haven't really seen a predictable pattern for when there is a yellow edge and more yellow spotting, and when there is only an orange edge with light yellow spotting. It could just be position on the plant, and how much direct sunlight falls on the individual buds, because these two flowers bloomed only a few days apart at the same exact time of year on the exact same plant.
Our new, as-yet-unnamed seedling is the offspring of blue mother 'Heartbreaker' and multi-colored, multi-ringed father 'Bubble Gum Fun.' This is still an untested new baby, so it will be a while before we know how good the plant is. But the flower is such a beauty that we sincerely hope the bush tests out well and quickly! It is possible that we could have it sometime in 2020.
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