Hibiscus is a plant of the family Malvaceae. It is very loved by growers, because almost all types of this plant bloom very beautifully. Hibiscus flowers, even within the same species, are very diverse. More than 200 species and about 500 varieties of this plant are known.
Did you know? A distinctive feature of all hibiscus - the short life of flowers. Each flower lives only one day - it opens in the morning and fades in the evening.
In our latitudes, three types of hibiscus are common. One of them is grown indoors and is better known as the Chinese rose. Chinese hibiscus can be carried out in the summer in the garden, but still it is considered a houseplant. Two other types of hibiscus are garden.
Garden Hibiscus
In gardens in the south of Russia, Ukraine and in the Crimea one can quite often find Syrian hibiscus, which is also called tree-like. It is a flowering shrub that can reach up to 3 meters in height. Often, stumps are formed from it, resulting in a beautifully flowering tree. With a very close planting of several varieties, you can create a shtamb tree with different colors from a hibiscus garden.
Tree hibiscus is a perennial. At one place it can grow up to 10 years. It blooms from June to September. Flowers in Syrian hibiscus can be simple and terry, of various shades, but not large. But in the second type of garden hibiscus, grassy hibiscus, the diameter of the flowers reaches 26 cm. The grassy hibiscus is also called swamp.
Important! Hibiscus is dissolved in the second half of May, so do not rush to think that it is cold, and immediately throw away the plant. Grassy hibiscus is more frost-resistant, it can grow not only in the south, but also in temperate latitudes. It is also spud in the winter with dry foliage or dry manure.
The varieties of this plant are also very diverse. The height varies from 80 cm to 2 m, and the flowers have a variety of shades. The plant grows well in one place, but after 5 years requires a hibiscus transplant to another place in the garden. Occurs in the second half of May. It blooms from late June to early September. Sudanese rose, rosilla, or hibiscus sabdariff, comes from India, its cultivation is practiced in all tropical areas. From this type of hibiscus is made karkade drink, where dark red petals, calyxes and flowers are used, they are called roses. All parts of this plant, except the roots, are edible. The plant can be grown at home in a pot culture, and the seeds can easily be found in a sack of karkade tea.
Garden Hibiscus Care
Garden hibiscus - unpretentious plants, but for abundant flowering they need sun and moderate watering. They can make an openwork shadow, while the flowers will be more saturated colors. When drought hibiscus flowers fall off, and when the soil is wetted, the plant may rot. It is also necessary to feed hibiscus with potash-phosphorus fertilizers in spring and summer. Garden hibiscus can be affected by spider mites or other types of parasites, so you need to monitor the condition of the plant and process it with the appropriate preparations in time.
Hibiscus reproduction
Hibiscus reproduces in different ways:
• division of the bush;
• grafting;
• layering;
• seeds.
Syrian hibiscus is best propagated by cuttings, while you can use the sprigs that remained when pruning the bush. Cuttings 15-20 cm long put in the water. Roots appear after 2-3 weeks. Then the cuttings are transplanted into pots with light soil.
Planted in the ground next year. Grassy hibiscus is best propagated by dividing the bush in spring, when the shoots grow 10-15 cm. Reproduction by cuttings, layering and dividing the bush guarantees the preservation of the varietal properties of the plant. Both types of hibiscus can be propagated by seed. Growing hibiscus from seeds at home is pretty easy. Seeds can be bought in a store or collect seed boxes from the bushes in your area when they mature.
But with the self-harvesting of seeds, one cannot expect a plant to grow, just like a parent. Many growers specifically pollinate flowers of different hibiscus to get a new variety. For better germination, you can put the seeds in the fridge for 2 weeks at above zero. Sown in pots of one seed. Planted in the ground next year. Grown from seed hibiscus tree can bloom only in the fourth year, and the grass will bloom in the second.
Hibiscus trim rules
Pruned hibiscus tree in early spring. This is done to remove dried and broken branches, to give the plant a more beautiful shape or to provide abundant flowering. Hibiscus flowers appear on the shoots of the current year, so in order to increase the number of flowers, Syriac hibiscus can be cut before the beginning of summer. The plant responds very well to pruning and grows quickly. Of course, pruning is more applicable to Syriac hibiscus, but grassy hibiscus can also be trimmed. If the variety of such hibiscus is very high, then it can be cut at the height you need. In this case, hibiscus shoots side shoots, forming a thicker shrub. But the flowers on the side shoots of the grassy hibiscus are much smaller than those on the stem.
How to cover a garden hibiscus for the winter
Tree hibiscus is less resistant to frost. Growing hibiscus in open ground is possible where the air temperature in winter rarely exceeds -20 ° C. A bush of such hibiscus is spud for the winter with dry foliage, the trunk is warmed with spruce branches or a frame is covered with agrotex or lutrasil. But with such warming there is a danger of the appearance of rodents under the litter or diaper rash of the bark. If the tree is small, it can be transplanted into the tub and placed in the basement or other cool room until spring.
Important! In the winter, cut the grassy hibiscus to a height of 10-15 cm, then to know exactly where its root is. Since it rises very late in the spring, you can damage its root during the early garden works. Plant hibiscus and you will get a festive atmosphere in the garden for the whole summer.
