Name:   Hibiscus rosa-sinensis aka tropical Hibiscus

Type of Plant:  A shrub in warm climates, and a flowering patio plant in northern areas.

Why I Love This Plant:  The flowers on this plant are large and often bright in color. For the northern gardener, this plant provides a touch of the tropics and showy flowers for pots on decks and patios. You can find tropical hibiscus in smaller bush form and made into a standard, with the green and flowers at the top of a tall stem.

A Word to the Wise: To keep this plant flowering all summer, clip off the faded blooms…they are only open one day, so remove the wilted ones. Secondly, keep the plant evenly moist – don’t let the soil dry out too much between waterings since that will cause the plant to slow flower production. Use a general synthetic fertilizer every month, or apply a time-release fertilizer in late-May.

If you want to keep this plant from year to year, buy a bushy form or one with a single stem. The types that have a braided stem can choke and kill the plant as that braid grows.

When I first became interested in plants red was the most common tropical Hibiscus that was sold. Now, you can find almost every color but blue!

Put on your sunglasses to look at this one…it’s straight off of a Hawaiian print shirt.

This Hibiscus is like sunshine in a pot.

I’m especially fond of the pink flowers.

The breeders of these plants keep getting more sophisticated in the color range, with purples and pinks showing up with peach and red. Yum.