New Hibiscus Colors Are Heating Up
Can you think of a showier shrub for Southern California than the hibiscus?
The blossoms are huge, up to 8 inches across on some varieties, and in outrageous colors that would make a Hawaiian shirt blush.
This remarkable range of colors includes near-blues, mauves and lavenders, as well as yellows and oranges, pinks and reds, and, of course, white. It’s the way nature, as if it were a psychedelic painter, mixes and swirls these colors on an individual blossom that make some new hibiscus so hot.
One of these new varieties, named ‘Fifth Dimension,’ is described by the American Hibiscus Society as having a “persimmon orange edge with a body of vivid gun metal gray-purple, with white radiating stripes from a currant red eye.” There went the rules of color.
That gun metal gray-purple is as close to a true silver as I’ve ever seen in a flower. I can think of nothing else that even comes close.
Another new variety appropriately named ‘Volcano’ has lava red petals striped with yellow. ‘Pinto’ is red with white spots that sometimes appear and disappear with the weather.
‘Donna Lyn’ has a red center that changes to lilac and finally orange at the edges. ‘Gold Dust’ is ripe-apricot orange with yellow spots or mottling, as hibiscus fanciers call it. And ‘Lady Elizabeth’ is a deep pink with flowers that were the size of my reporter’s notebook.
Some of the new flowers are doubles, and a lot are ruffled. One dusky lavender even has ruffled little petals on the central club-like pistil.
Though the flowers on most hibiscus last only a day, they are produced constantly, one after another, except during the hottest month or so in summer, when they slow down or stop or drop buds (except near the beach). In fall, they pick right up again and bloom almost constantly. October may be their best month.
Some of the new varieties have blooms that last longer, staying open for two or even three days.
Most of the new varieties are coming from Florida and Australia, where hybridizers have been making the hibiscus flowers ever more outrageous and bigger, up to 11 inches across on some.
That puts the Chinese or tropical hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) right up there with the perennial H. moscheutos you’ve probably seen illustrated in seed catalogs, with flowers as big as a child’s face.
In Nurseries This Fall
This fall some of these new varieties will make their debut at nurseries, with even more following in spring.
One grower, Hidden Valley Specialty Plants, will introduce 2,000 plants of 10 new kinds, with more coming in the spring. Ask your nursery to order some. The various Armstrong Nursery stores will have 5,000 plants of 30 new kinds from Florida, beginning in September, including the startling ‘Fifth Dimension’ mentioned above.
Surprisingly, early fall is a fine time to plant hibiscus. Though they can’t tolerate cold (they are hardy to about 28 degrees; Sunset’s Western Garden Book says they grow in zones 19 through 24, which leaves out the high desert and the flat bottom lands of the San Fernando and San Bernardino valleys), they do prefer cooler weather.
Try them in pots if you think you haven’t the room for even one more plant in your garden, or if you suspect that the bright, big-flowered hibiscus might look out of place in your demure garden beds.
John Bagnasco, who has 80 of these new varieties in his Fallbrook backyard, and who brought in the new varieties for Armstrong, says they do great in containers. “Maybe even better,” he suggested, because they get all the water and fertilizer they need and like. Plant in pots that are 12 inches across and wider to brighten your patio.
In the ground, hibiscus can get quite large, though this varies by variety. In Bagnasco’s garden, most of the hibiscus are about 5 years old; some are only 3 feet tall and others are 7 feet tall.
Anyone who has driven around town knows that hibiscus can become tree-like in time, to 15 feet or more. But they are also easy to prune.
Macrine Brown, who grew up in the Philippines and is a member of the hibiscus society, manages to keep her sizable collection short by pruning them every year into 2-foot-tall stubs, usually in early March. She says they double in size during the summer and fall.
In several ways, hibiscus care is similar to the coddling a rose prefers: They gobble up lots of water and fertilizer and can be pruned annually.
You can prune off as much as one-third to one-half of the growth each year. This will encourage flowering if it is done in early spring, usually March. Just be sure you prune after any danger of frost or cold weather. Where there is no frost, you can prune during the December holidays.
As with a rose, prune to an outside facing bud. If you want lots of flowering branches, pinch the tips of new sprouts as they grow, as is done with fuchsias. Hibiscus bloom on what’s called “new wood.”
After pruning, “a shot of nitrogen gets them going,” said Ken Garlock, another member of the hibiscus society.
Garlock grows about 400 kinds in his South Pasadena garden. Most are in pots, but about 50 grow in the ground. He’s had a lot to do with bringing some of the new varieties into California, and his home is frequently where the small hibiscus fan club meets.
He’s found that some of the new kinds do great in California and that some don’t, just as Bagnasco learned that common California kinds--including ‘Fiesta’ and ‘White Wings’--don’t do well in Florida.
Hibiscus need well-drained soil and sulk or die with poor drainage, especially during wet winters. To check your drainage, dig a foot-deep hole and fill it with water. It should drain away in less than an hour.
If drainage is poor, add several inches of organic amendments, plus gypsum, and till it in, thoroughly mixing with the soil.
Garlock suggests fertilizing often, maybe twice a month, from March to October, giving them small doses of a fertilizer that has extra potassium and low phosphorous, such as a 20-10-20. Potassium is the last number in the formula listed on a fertilizer package.
Plants naturally yellow and drop leaves in spring, and they also yellow with abrupt changes of weather. “Expect that to happen,” says Garlock.
Pest Problems
The recently arrived giant whitefly loves hibiscus and is a problem in San Diego County and parts of Orange, having also been seen in Pasadena and the Hollywood Hills. Horticultural oil sprays can control them and, according to several growers, Green Light’s Rose Defense, made from neem oil, works extremely well. Spraying early in the season may keep them away for the whole summer.
Parasitic wasps are being released to control this new pest, and gardeners hope they’ll be as effective as those used against the ash white fly, which has nearly vanished.
Don’t forget to cut some of the hibiscus blooms and bring them indoors. They stay open for only a day or two, but during that time they don’t even need to be in water. That’s the reason they can be worn behind the ear in Hawaii, or here, if you have a handy supply of hibiscus blooms.
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