When the fruit garden is already full of juicy fruits, garden hibiscus becomes the main favorite of gardeners in the south. Care and propagation, growing characteristics, varieties and varieties, photos of hibiscus flowers - all this will be the main topic of our conversation. Few huge hibiscus flower will leave you indifferent. This is an incredibly beautiful garden, in some ways even exotic, plant.
What could be more attractive than flower gardens decorating your garden? Of course, flowering trees, shrubs. What is hibiscus, not many know. But almost all flower growers know what a Chinese rose is. But these plants from the same family are malvaceous.
Hibiscus - types and varieties
Starting to write this article, I did not think that the classification of garden hibiscus, dividing them into species, varieties would cause difficulties. But this turned out to be a rather difficult task. I did not find a clear systematization of species and varieties. But I can still share some information.
There are wild and cultivated species. There are annuals and perennials. Of these, tree-like, shrubby, grassy species can be distinguished.
Wikipedia, by the way, gives its own classification of species:
- Hemp, or Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) - is used by the spinning industry of some tropical countries;
- Chinese, or Chinese rose (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) - indoor culture;
- Rosella, or Sabdarifa or Sudanese Rose (Hibiscus sabdariffa) - from the family malvaceae, distributed in tropical countries, was originally bred in India;
- Syrian (Hibiscus syriacus) Is a common perennial species in Russia for outdoor cultivation. Frost-resistant, perennial, shrubby;
- Triple or Northern (Hibiscus syriacus) - an annual herbaceous plant growing on the mountain slopes, along the rivers and lakes of Asia, India, the Mediterranean, etc.
Separately, another species is mentioned separately - Swamp or Musky (Hibiscus moscheutos) Is a perennial herb, a favorite of gardeners in the south of Russia. In winter, the aboveground part dies.
Let's try to figure out what types of hibiscus exist. As a basis, we take the classification according to growth methods and forms of development: grassy, shrubby, tree-like.
- Grassy - tall bush with strong erect branches, large leaves, large flowers. The diameter of the flower (depending on the variety) can reach 40 cm. The bush dies annually in the autumn, and in the spring throws out young shoots again.
- Shrubbery is a slowly growing deciduous bush with many branches. Blooms profusely throughout the season. Flowers are medium in size from 5 to 25 cm in diameter. By the way, all shrubby species can be formed in one trunk, getting beautiful flowering trees.
- Treelike - a single-leaf deciduous tree, capable of growing up to 5-6 meters tall. The whole season is covered with flowers up to 12 cm in diameter.
A common feature of all varieties: the flower lives only a day, but at the same time one faded bud is immediately replaced by a new blossoming, so flowering seems constant.
Now there are new varieties - flowers can remain fresh for more than one day. But it all depends on the degree of coverage. The more sunny place you have chosen for your pet, the longer the life of one flower. But still, the flowering period is short - from one to 2-3 days.
Landscape designers are very fond of garden hibiscus of all kinds. City gardens, parks are often adorned with shrubs. And in the private courtyard, summer cottages, grassy species are increasingly found.
Grass hibiscus
These are hybrids that were bred by crossing three varieties of North American origin - Holly, pink, red. This is a perennial that, after withering of the ground part, subject to sheltering of the root system, can withstand frosts down to -30ºС.
The rhizome of one instance is quite powerful, it looks like a tuber. The bush blooms from midsummer to late autumn. At the same time, ten or more flowers can bloom.
Herb varieties are very popular because of large (up to 30-40 cm in diameter) bright colorful flowers (white, red, pink, burgundy, etc.), sometimes double ones.
The height of this plant can reach three meters. Such branches have time to reach in one season.
Among the herbaceous plants, the most popular among gardeners are marsh ones. Why are they called that? Because for the first time whole thickets of this incredibly beautiful plant were discovered in swamps along the Mississippi River, where they are perennial. With us, they also belong to perennial, but with the dying part of the bush dying in winter.
In the flowerbeds, grassy varieties look great along with stunted neighbors. For example, in the center of the rosary, your pet will be a magnificent king.
Huge flowers the size of a plate will surprise not only you, but your guests, neighbors, just passers-by.
Varieties of grassy hibiscus
The Copper King variety is a compact bush. The rounded compact shape is achieved by annual formation of no more than 120 cm in height. Dark green, openwork, shaped like maple leaves, can change color, which depends on the temperature of the surrounding air. The flowers are large up to 30 cm in diameter, the colors of strawberry mousse are white-pink with bright pink stripes. The core of the flower is purple-red. Resistant to disease.
Variety Cranberry Crash - grows a round, lush shrub with greenery from the roots, 90-120 cm high. It has green feathery foliage with purple streaks. The flowers are large up to 25 cm in diameter, juicy burgundy with dark stripes on the petals.
The variety Old Yella is a strong bush with strong shoots up to 100-120 cm high, with gardening from the roots. The leaf is green, pinnate, maple-shaped, with a purple tint in sunlight. Huge flowers 30 cm in diameter, white or cream color with a red core. Petals are wavy.
Separately, participants in various forums discuss garden yellow grassy hibiscus - this species has several varieties, but, as some flower growers claim, they can all be only annuals! They write directly: “Do not believe it, if you are trying to sell perennial yellow, such a hybrid does not exist, although breeders are trying to achieve this. This species will have to be sown every year. ”
But, nevertheless, some amateur gardeners claim that they have yellow perennials growing. Maybe you readers can clarify? If your garden is decorated with this flower, there is experience in the care, cultivation, write a comment.
Shrub hibiscus
Among the shrubs, the most popular is Syrian, which has many varieties. Its flowers are smaller in size than those of the grassy species and reach a diameter of 12 cm. The color is varied: flowers are purple, white, red, and there are varieties with a two-color color.
The splendor of the flowers of some varieties is complemented by long pistils with fluffy stamens that attract bees and butterflies.
With proper care, the bush is usually abundantly strewn with flowers, looks very tender, although it grows more slowly than grassy. On a bright, sheltered from the wind, scorching sun spot bush can grow up to 20 years.
The bush reaches a height of two to three meters, less often four to six, and a width of 1.5 meters.
But having acquired a young specimen, do not suffer from the question: why hibiscus does not bloom. Syrian shrub blooms only after 3-4 years.
Varieties of shrub hibiscus
Variety Ardens – perennial deciduous shrub growing up to 2-3 meters tall. Easily shaped like a standard tree. Dense flowering with fairly large (up to 14 cm) double flowers of lavender or pale pink color.
The Blue Satin variety is a perennial, deciduous deciduous shrub. The height can be up to 4-6 meters. They are often formed with a stem to make the bush a compact tree, or a single trunk, removing extra shoots in the first years of life. Flowers are large 15 cm in diameter, blue, azure and cornflower blossoms. The color depth depends on the lighting, the more it is - the more saturated the color of the flowers.
Tree hibiscus
Tree-like is an excellent solution for beginner gardeners - after all, it is quite unpretentious. The main advantage is that he winters well in the south, without requiring additional shelter, except, perhaps, the first years. The tree differs from shrub species, only in appearance - one trunk that can branch at a height of about half a meter. The photo below is a young four-year-old tree. This is his second flowering.
An adult plant can grow up to 5 meters tall, even taller.
The leaves of the tree are large, bright green, flowers of medium size, bright color, there are also double, two or three-colored.
How to care for hibiscus
Any variety of this plant loves the sun or bright light. Care is not complicated - timely watering, weeding, regular top dressing with nitrogen or phosphorus fertilizers with a monthly frequency, at least. In the heat, it is worth avoiding top dressing under the root, better nutritious spraying with fertilizers on the leaf.
Closer to fall, it is necessary to apply potash fertilizers, stopping nitrogen or phosphorus fertilizing, this will help to prepare for wintering.
It is worth noting that all garden hibiscus love rotted needles. It can be added to the planting pit when transplanting or planting seedlings, it can also mulch the rhizome zone.
Many gardeners like to pamper their plants with a summer shower over the foliage, Hibiscus will not give up this pleasure. The main thing to remember is that you can carry out “water procedures” only closer to sunset, when the sun no longer burns the leaves.
An alarming sign may be the simultaneous withering of all flowers - the plant does not have enough moisture! Recovering will help urgent heavy watering.
To protect your pet from the main enemy - aphids, it is recommended to plant nearby bushes of lavender, whose aroma will scare away pests.
Herbaceous, as well as some shrub varieties require shelter for the winter, so many gardeners prefer tree-like representatives of the genus because of their ability to please their beauty for many years without much care and preservation of pets in winter.
It is worth paying attention to the features of caring for different species.
Features of the care of grassy hibiscus
Watering, top dressing, weeding, as in all species.
With the onset of autumn, the stem, leaves, wilted flowers die off. The nutrients from them are gradually absorbed by the root system. This makes it more developed, strong, makes it easier to endure frosty winters.
That is why it is not worth trimming the stems of herbaceous species before they are completely dry. In the south, where more often there is no natural shelter in the form of snow, artificial should be created correctly.
The first thing we do: we cut off the shrunken aerial part, spill it well with water, loosen it, and spud up the rhizome zone. You can sprinkle with humus or mulch. Sawdust, fallen leaves, dry grass, coniferous litter will do. If it is needles, then in the spring you can not remove it, but leave it on top, slightly mixing it with loosening the ground.
The resulting bump on top should be covered with white soft covering material, pressing it with stones or branches, constructing a kind of hut. When frost has passed, carefully release the hemp of the plant from the warming pad, taking care not to damage the kidneys. After all, already in May young shoots appear, in which for splendor it is advised to pinch the tops.
Every three years, it is necessary to divide the rhizome of grassy hibiscus so that its flowering does not weaken or fade. After all, every season the number of shoots tripled. The struggle for nutrients, moisture is becoming more difficult. In the first year of life, the number of main shoots is one, in the second two-nine, usually five, well, and after three years - they are already three times as many. The time for dividing the bush comes, which, by the way, is one of the ways of its reproduction.
Caring for Syrian Hibiscus
An adult shrub tolerates our Kuban winter well, and it is better to wrap the branches of a young pet (1-2 years) with white covering material, and sprinkle the rhizome zone with humus or thoroughly mulch. The layer of the root shelter should be at least 15 cm high. Do not forget to free the plant from it in spring!
The Syrian species wakes up quite late, do not be scared - it should be so, it's just a certain feature of it.
Shrub fertilizers love phosphoric (for example, Bud), which activate flowering. Closer to the fall, you need to start injecting potassium preparations in order to prepare the shrub for wintering. Caring for a tree-like differs only in that in winter you can not hide it. The exception is young seedlings, which nevertheless should be covered for the first 1-2 winters.
How hibiscus breeds
It depends on the species. For example, tree-like varieties can be propagated only by cuttings, grafts, and seeds.
Shrubbery, in addition to grafting, grafting, sowing seeds, can be propagated by layering.
Grassy plants are most easily amenable to reproduction by dividing the bush, but the above-mentioned methods of grafting, sowing with seeds are also inherent in them.
Propagation by seeds is not difficult: it is produced like any sowing without any special tricks.
Work begins from January to March. First, it is recommended to soak the seeds for 10-12 hours in a solution of Epina. After that, rinse them with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
For sowing you will need a container, a mixture of sand with peat, as well as shelter (glass, polyethylene or cling film). Soaked seeds are sown in moist soil, take cover. So that the seedlings do not keep themselves waiting, you should maintain the temperature at about + 25ºС. Also, do not forget to ventilate the container with crops, remove drops of condensate, and if necessary, moisten the surface of the soil. After the seedlings appear on the seedlings, they can be planted in separate pots.
And in May, stronger seedlings move to a permanent place, and their weak counterparts to a temporary place - for growing.
When propagated by seeds, garden hibiscus will bloom for 3-4 season. Please note that he may not preserve the decorativeness of his parent. Therefore, seed propagation is not the best way to acquire a flower with exactly those properties that you liked so much.
Propagation by cuttings is the most popular method among amateurs. It can be made in two ways.
- Cuttings in summer with 3-4 buds cut off, are dipped in water with the addition of Kornevin or another root growth stimulator. After the appearance of the roots, the cuttings are first planted in containers with peat soil for wintering, and in the spring - in open ground.
- Cuttings in summer with 3-4 kidneys cut off in the summer are treated with a root growth stimulator as in the first method. But after that, they immediately land in containers-hotbeds with wet peat for rooting. Cuttings that gave roots are planted in pots for the winter, and in the spring they are planted in open ground.
When grafting, there is a high probability that your pet will delight you with its flowering in the first year.
Propagation of garden hibiscus by dividing the bush is more suitable for herbaceous varieties. By the way, the division of rhizomes is a necessary technique for caring for grassy species to maintain quality flowering. This is one of the fastest, most convenient ways of breeding.
In the early spring, carefully forge the bush 3-4 years old, with a pitchfork, divide the rhizome with a knife or a shovel. As a rule: one trunk - one separate plant. When dividing older bushes, 2-3 trunks are allowed per one new instance.
Sprinkle slices with ash or powdered charcoal.
The resulting parts of the rhizome must immediately be planted. Well spilled planting pits with nutrient soil must be prepared in advance.
We fill the rhizomes with earth, ram the surface, water it again. After two weeks, you can carry out the first nitrogen fertilizing. With this care, the divided bushes quickly sprout, delight their hosts with flowering in the first season after planting.
Reproduction by layering and the vaccination method should be left for professionals, since for these methods you will need not only skills and knowledge, but also special tools, patience, cold-bloodedness that gardener-lovers have things that are not always compatible. Especially when you need a fast, reliable result.
Hibiscus pruning in autumn or spring when best
It is important to know how pruning affects garden hibiscus, when to produce it, whether it is needed at all.
They say that young bushes cannot be pruned. But this is not so. Need to crop! It is necessary to start doing this as soon as possible in order to give the plant a form, splendor, and increase flowering. After all, flower buds are laid only on young shoots.
Regular spring pruning is an essential annual care. It is also called hygienic or stimulating. This pruning is recommended to be carried out starting in February, until the bushes or trees woke up, until the sap flow began. Do not be afraid to cut off excess; last year's shoots need to be mercilessly shortened by 1/3 of their length. Your pet will thank you abundantly laying flower buds.
Anti-aging pruning of hibiscus in autumn is carried out in adult specimens. For example, your bush has reached enormous size or is too thick. Cut old dry branches, thin out the plant, leaving only the main skeletal ones.
Landscape designers advise the central branch to be left longer than others. The shape of the crown will be more attractive.
At the tree-like representative it is possible to form a crown by trimming, for example, to make it spherical.
Regular anti-aging pruning (every 3 years) will strengthen the skeleton of a bush or tree.
What is hibiscus, the types of which were described above, you learned, got acquainted with the rules for caring for it, the features of pruning. Now you can decide what kind of variety is missing in your garden, feel free to get yourself a Chinese beauty.
Hibiscus - signs, superstitions, traditions
There are still interesting facts about which it is impossible not to say.
It is said that this flower has magical powers.
Someone calls it a flower of love - supposedly it gives a huge amount of energy that can resurrect a departed love or ignite a new one in the family where it grows.
Strange as it may seem, there is a scientific explanation for this: flower nectar is an aphrodisiac, so it can very well strengthen family relationships.
And doctors say that everyone should have a hibiscus at home or in the garden, whose beneficial properties are precisely in its exquisite aroma containing volatile, suppressing some carcinogens.
Well, the second big popular name is garden hibiscus - the flower of death. Why? There are several reasons.
There is a legend that if hibiscus bloomed inopportune, out of rhythm, then, then wait for trouble.
Also, a withering, drying plant supposedly portends a serious illness to one of the members of the family where it grows.
All this, of course, is superstition. Believe it or not is everyone's business.
Whatever superstition tells us, it is impossible to refuse to grow a beautiful flower.
There are interesting traditions associated with hibiscus from around the world. It is very interesting. For example, this plant is the national flower of several countries - Haiti, South Korea, Malaysia.
And Filipinos use it in the manufacture of the base for soap bubbles, chopping foliage, flowers until a sticky liquid is obtained.
A hibiscus flower is traditionally worn on the head of a Hawaiian girl and woman. Moreover, if the flower in the hair is on the left, then the woman is not free. And if the flower is on the right, then this person is open to relationships.
Plant your garden hibiscus! Care and reproduction does not require much effort. There are a huge number of species and varieties. The color scheme will satisfy even the most demanding landscape designer. This wonderful plant will decorate your garden for many years, make it unique, amazing.
Garden Hibiscus - photo
Posted by: Anna Pasechnik