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With love and passion, everyone can have a nice garden...Elaine Yim

Count Your Blessings!
Count The Garden By The Flowers, Never By The Leaves That Fall.
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..... Author unknown.

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Malaysian Flora USDA Zone 11
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Friday, September 9, 2011

The 10 Types of Hibiscus in My Container Garden

1. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Brilliant Red'

Currently, I have 10 different hibiscus plants in my garden. All are grown in pots.

The above hibisus is Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Brilliant Red', the National Flower of Malaysia. It is the 2nd hibiscus I planted in my garden. A family member won this lucky draw prize, now it has become my prized possession.
  • It is the most dependable hibiscus plant in my garden - it can live on its own without any extra fertilizer or watering from me
  • it is ever-flowering - it gives me flowers every day, the whole year through.
  • the flowers attract butterflies, even bugs in love - to see Grasshoppers Mating post, click here.
  • flower buds can be eaten, even my pet tortoise, Blastoise loves it. (See here).
  • sunbirds love to perch on its branches. 

By the way, do you notice anything unusual about this flower?
Well, there are 2 superimposed flowers here!

“The 10 Types of Hibiscus in My Container Garden”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on Sept 9th, 2011.


2. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Cooperii Alba'
This Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Cooperii Alba' was the first hibiscus I planted in my garden. I bought the sapling expecting the flowers to be brilliant red but it turned out to be crimson red. I thought the leaves would be deep green but it was variegated in cream, pink, white and green. This plant can also live independently on its own, its needs taken care for by Mother Nature. There is no need for extra water or fertilizer.

3. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis - Double Flower Pink
When I bought this double flowers hibiscus, I thought it was yellow!
Unopened flower buds look yellow but fully opened, it is a pale pink.  

4. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis - Single flower yellow with pink veination
This one has yellow petals and deep pink veins. 


5. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis - Single Flower with Red Eye

This yellow hibiscus flower is quite big. Unlike other hibiscus flowers which last only a day, the flowers of this plant last for 2 days. It opens in the morning, semi-closes in the evening and open again the next morning before it closes for good and the petals drop off.

The flowers are big while the plant is dwarf sized, less than 2ft tall.

6. Malvaviscus arboreus

Turk's cap flowers are tiny but many. They are always pointing up but only half-opened.
I prune it frequently to keep it short and compact.
It is easy to propagate by cuttings.

7. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis - Double Flower Red
I like the bright red colour of this Hibiscus rosa-sinensis with double flowers.
I think this vermillion red is very auspicious and the flowers look like roses.
Unlike roses, hibiscus plants don't have thorns.

8. Hibiscus moscheutos - Dark Pink
I used to admire this Hibiscus moscheutos at the Kuala Lumpur Hibiscus Garden but I doubt it could thrive in my garden, so I didn't buy those available for sale at the local nurseries. The flowers are huge, i.e. almost 0.5ft across. This is the size of dish plates!

Recently I discovered that it is actually quite easy to grow. Just that it is always thirsty for water and need more feeding with fertilizers, otherwise the buds will dry up and drop off before they can open.

The local nursery people call this "Bunga Raya Hawaii" meaning Hawaiian Hibiscus. I bought 2 plants at Floria 2011 at about RM 15.00 (USD 5) per plant.

9. Hibiscus moscheutos - White
Some flowers are completely white while others develop a splash of pale pink which makes it look like the 'blusher' on the 'cheeks' of the flower. The plant is actually very short and compact at less than 1 m tall eventhough the flowers are jumbo sized.

Is the blushing effect due to sun / warmth exposure?

10. Hibiscus sabdariffa - Roselle

This Hibiscus sabdariffa is now flowering and fruiting. The seeds of this Roselle plant was given by Bangchik. My grateful thanks to Bangchik. I am looking forward to the day I can have my first taste of home grown roselle juice.

Now, which one is your favourite?

This is my entry for :
1) Fertilizer Friday - hosted by Glenda of Tootise Time, and
2) Weekend Flowers #11 - hosted by Tina
3) Today's Flowers #160 - TF team Santilli - Denise - Pupo - Sandy Carlson

25 comments:

  1. Lovely flowers. Thanks for sharing with Weekend Flowers! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like them all but that first one Brilliant Red would be what I would have to pick as a favorite, second would be that Cooperii Alba. Beautiful photos.
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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  3. I like them all too! I find the 4th Yellow Hibiscus with red veins so unique! I hope to find one like that here in our country. :)

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  4. I am partial to the 4th hibiscus too. I like its yellow color. But they are all beautiful.

    BTW, I'll show how to hide and display contents on my next post :)

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  5. My favorite is #1. It is very different than the ones they sell up here as potted standards. I never purchased one, yet admire them each time I go to this one nursery. You have a beautiful collection.

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  6. Wow, you might have a wide garden to carry all those plants. I love the roselle. When i was a kid there was this very big and wide topiary shaped red hibiscus, but it gave way for the water tank. The malvaviscus hedge also gave way to room expansion. We have very tall trees now at the east side which blocks sunlight, so our lower plants dont grow nicely.

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  7. You have all the 10 types in your garden. Love all of them they are so beautiful.

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  8. Oooh so pretty! I love all of them but I have to say my favorite is the dark pink! Thanks for stopping by my blog to leave a sweet comment for me. I hope everything is going well for you and your family.
    Always such loveliness on your blog, keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dear Autumn Belle, Your container garden is so beautiful. I blogged about mine this week, but I can't compare with yours. P. x

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  10. Wow! your top ten are beautiful! I think my favorite one is the Double Red...They are all so lovely I had to force myself to choose one.. that was hard!

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  11. °º✿
    Olá, amiga!
    Os hibisco são muito bonitos!
    Tem uma variabilidade incrível de cores.
    °º✿
    Bom domingo!
    Boa semana!
    Beijinhos.
    Brasil
    °º♫
    °º✿
    º° ✿♥ ♫° ·
    (✿◠‿◠)
    ♥♫♪*¸.•✿

    ReplyDelete
  12. The flowers are beautiful! I love the double ones - I've never seen any doubled ones before! I was also glad to see your Turk's cap one. I had actually recently seen a plant like that and was wondering what kind of plant it was - now I know!

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  13. Oh my! These flowers are simply stunning...they wouldn't last 5 mins here in the UK...what a shame to miss out on such beauties, I shall visit again for my next 'fix' xx

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  14. They are all so beautiful but my favourite is the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Amazing !!!

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  15. Wow you have so many kinds!

    Rose Buds is my share for Today's Flower. Hope you can come and comment.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow!! I had heard there are many types of hibiscus, but to see them!!! The only one I have seen is the moscheutos, in a couple of reds and the pink. I love that first variety! The stalk to the business parts of the blossom looks like it is twisted!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I like hibiscus because of its color and lovely petals. Here in our place it is very normal to see an hibiscus. You have collected beautiful photos of different hibiscus! I choose the 4th photo of hibiscus and i really vote for it!

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  18. Lovely looking at your pics. I've just started growing hibes.

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    Replies
    1. Ms Sidney, Welcome to MNG! In Malaysia, we are really spoilt for choice as to the varieties of hibiscus we can grow. In my garden, my plain red hibiscus (our national flower) is a favourite among sunbirds and butterflies. Just yesterday, an olive backed sunbird was feeding on my red hibiscus flowers. Now I can really enjoy the lively views from my glass door window.

      Delete
  19. Awesome pictures!

    Im looking into getting a few plants for my wife and Im not sure if hibiscuses stay green in the winter or loose their leaves. What is your experience?

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    Replies
    1. Mr Gerotto1, I'm sorry that I don't have experience growing hibiscus in winter. I am growing them in equatorial climate. I have not heard of hibiscus being an 'evergreen' plant, hence I think it does loose the leaves in winter unless you grow it in a green house.

      As I am aware, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is a sun-loving plant but Hibiscus syriacus can grow well in temperate countries.

      Delete
  20. Hi...love all your hibiscus! Do you hv any seedling for sale?

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  21. Hi Autumn Belle, lovely pictures and flowers. Am looking for hibiscus trees about 5ft height. Was wondering if you came across any sellers that you know of? Thanks so much.

    ReplyDelete

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