| I am unable to get a concrete answer on whether to plant my hibiscus outside. I live in Northern NJ. I have full sun in my yard all day. My hibiscus is about 8 years old. It lives in a pot and is about 5 feet tall. I think it needs to get out of the pot and I would like to put it outside if possible. Please let me know. I believe it is of the Cherie variety. |
| Cherie is a named cultivar of the tropical Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Since it is a tropical plant, it is not winter hardy in your area, it is only hardy outside to about zone 10 -- think southern Florida or Hawaii. I am not sure where the confusion is. You can take it out of the pot and plant in the ground for the summer, but you will have to uproot it and bring it indoors in the fall if you want to keep it until the next year. This violent uprooting and root loss is very stressful on the plant. In my experience for this reason it is better to grow it year round as a container plant but set it outside each summer to bask in the sunshine. Some gardeners will set the pot into the ground for the summer and allow it to root down through the drain holes; this makes it easier to dig it up in the fall, but it is still quite stressful on the plant. Whether you wish to try planting it out is entirely up to you. Since it is a named variety you could replace it should the worst case scenario happen. Sometimes it takes some trial and error to see what works best for each gardener. I hope this helps! |
