So striking, so beautiful!!!

First flower of the year on Summer Spice Plum Flambe

It's starting! Finally. I have 3 hardy hibiscus blooming now (H. laevis, Honeymoon Deep Red, and Plum Flambe).

Nice color capture on Plum Flambe! I think the flowers are gorgeous - I just wish mine didn't lay on the ground unless staked.

First Hibiscus bloom for me this year - Splash Pinot Grigio:

Due to lots of watering, lots of heat, and a couple of nice rain showers, it is a larger than usual bloom.
Same flower, different lighting:

Beautiful!!

Carafe Bordeaux:

The "carafe" refers to the dwarf size of the plant - a carafe as opposed to the full bottle?
This is a 6" bloom on a foot and a half tall plant. It is almost silly looking.

I've noticed that a lot of plants at big box stores have been cut back and pinched off and treated with hormones to make for squat little plants with big blooms. Presumably, smaller plants are easier to manage. The issue is that then, once you have it home and it's planted, it grows to full size the next year. And then you're like, Whaaaaa?

Of course, your little Carafe guy was probably hybridized to be small. That does seem a bit extreme to have a plant that's only 3x the size of the bloom. Weird.

Why didn't they call it Half Carafe Bordeaux? THAT would have made more sense if they were trying to convey relative smallness. Is there a whole Carafe series coming at us? 🤔🕵️

I looked it up. The plant goes to 3ft tall when mature.
Would have been so cool if it only got to 12",
I would get a few for sure. Nice bloom.

Half Carafe! That's appropriate! It is a true genetic dwarf. It is part of a small, older series that includes some slightly larger plants named for wines like the Splash Pinot Grigio I posted yesterday. It's about 2 1/2 foot tall with up to 6" blooms. They never hit the big box stores that I'm aware of.

plasko20 said: I looked it up. The plant goes to 3ft tall when mature.
Would have been so cool if it only got to 12",
I would get a few for sure. Nice bloom.

I've had it a few years and it hasn't made it to 3 feet yet. Maybe I should start fertilizing my Hibiscus. I never have - my dogs like to poop under them, so I just call it good. 💩

I would keep it small and cute.
Not a fan of the "leggy" look myself in plants, anyhow.
Keep feeding those dogs the good stuff.

So, I went back out in the broiling heat, and discovered another Splash Pinot Grigio - 9" diameter on its 30" tall plant:

I decided to actually measure Carafe Bordeaux - it was larger than I thought, likely due to 3 good rains in the last week: 8" flower on 24" plant! I had the 1:3 ratio right, at least.
The rain yesterday laid this Airbrush Effect down and I nearly missed it:

Right now, it's just laevis, a very sickly Honeymoon Deep Red, and Summer Spice Plum Flambe. I noticed an opening Perfect Storm bud, though...that may open the flood gates for hibiscus bloom season.

MrKGDickie said: Right now, it's just laevis, a very sickly Honeymoon Deep Red, and Summer Spice Plum Flambe.

Where did you find H. laevis!? I'd love to try growing a native species hardy hibiscus. Laevis is supposed to occur here in Indiana but I've never seen it.

Looking forward to seeing Perfect Storm for the first time, flower buds are forming on my new plant as we speak!

I bought H. laevis and H. dasycalyx at a going out of business sale I just happened to drive past. It was in Chapel Hill...Niche Gardens.

Ken,
What a find!!
I hope you're bagging a some of those (rare and endangered) H. dasycalyx buds, and then hand pollinating the blooms and rebagging them to prevent cross pollination. They are hard to come by, and the seed is hard to find also. Both mine that I grew from seed died. The sawflies preferred them over everything else and stripped the bark right off the stems before I realized it was happening. The sawflies only damaged the leaves of my other Hibiscuses.

exop,
I found H. dasycalyx seeds online, H. coccineus and H. laevis on our seed swaps and H. moscheutos growing wild locally.

Today, Summerific Perfect Storm bloomed for the first time this year.

Hibiscus season took off today with a nice trio on Splash Pinot Grigio:

and several first blooms for the season - Cinnamon Grappa:

Plum Flambe:

Seedling from "H. Moscheutos" seeds:

Evening Rose:

Miniature Rose:

(How did THAT get in here? )
Luna Rose:

Cherry Choco Latte:
With 10" bloom diameters on a 3 1/2 foot tall plant:

@bumplbea, for the

@DraDiana
hibiscus are Stunnin.. & the tiny mini rose 🌹…