Posts Tagged ‘Hibiscus’

I’ve been working on repopulating the garden, and and of course the hibiscus are what draw my attention first and foremost. This one is Creole Lady, and has been blooming pretty steadily for the last few weeks, making me very happy:

She actually lasts 2-3 days, her colors changing. The pinkish fringe becomes orange and the center gets darker. IMHO it’s prettiest when it first opens, but any hibiscus is better than no hibiscus, right?

I was playing in the garden, so naturally Bianca arrives to show me what a real Creole lady looks like…

I picked this hardy hibiscus up at the Farmer’s Market last year not quite sure what I was getting, but fell in love with it once it bloomed. It comes in bright white and fades to a deep pinkish red over the course of several days- the whole bloom lasts a good 10 days, which is fantastically long for these things.

Here are two blooms on the same bush- one had been out for about four days and had gone pink, and the other had bloomed that day:

And here’s two days later, the pink’s gone much deeper, but the white’s still white:

I just love how it’s chaos at its center, much more than a tropical hibiscus:

Yesterday we went back to Jean Lafitte Park, this time with the wonderful Jane, who’d never been. We are in the middle of a really rainy patch, and I’ve never quite seen the park like it was yesterday.

The water was everywhere- right up to the path, while usually, until you get to the main waterway, you only catch glimpses of the water here and there. And growing in it- everywhere- were flowers. Things were in bloom a few weeks ago, but nothing like this- it was fantastic.

Stretching back as far as the eye could see were fields of wild mallow, a form of hibiscus. Its pale pink against the dark greens was gorgeous, so now I know- even if it’s continuing to be overcast and nasty, a trip out to Jean Lafitte Park isn’t ever really out of the question.

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I got Purple Goddess from a wonderful hibiscus company when it was shutting down- he’d intended to keep her, but his wife just didn’t like the blooms.

And I have to say, it doesn’t ever come in nearly as dark as the breeder said it would, nor does it bloom very often, so when I noticed just at dinnertime that it had actually flowered, I plucked it and put it on the table, even though it hadn’t opened fully. (It’s been ungodly hot, so I’m happy to get any blooms right now- in a month we’ll have color galore. Right now…eh.)

All of which led to getting a little arty with a flashlight, and the effect is pretty cool…even if you can’t really see the flower for itself. Above is the best idea of what it actually looks like- it’s a mid-range purple with a reddish eye.

Another Dupont Cajun variety- and no, I don’t have stock in them- we have an overabundance since they’re the supplier the local chapter of the American Hibiscus Society’s chosen to use for their annual sales.

Low AHS price + gorgeous blooms = another hibiscus in the backyard.

And this one’s a doozy- it’s huge and practically florescent- what’s not to love?

This was actually taken a couple of months ago and I’ve just gotten around to uploading it. There aren’t many blooms at the moment- we’re in the middle of a god-awful streak of sky high temps with near-drought conditions, so I can’t blame them for not wanting to be bothered. Every time I step outside I lose any motivation I might’ve started out with, so I can completely relate.

I think it just confuses Bianca when I take photos of boring things like plants. She tends to get in the middle of it and look at me like I’m crazy.

So Black Jack is/was a Dupont variety; I note it’s not listed on their website any more, so it might have been discontinued. I’ve never been a big fan of the browns and greens in hibiscus blooms, but Charlie thought this one looked exotic.

It’s a slow grower, and even after being pinched off twice, this was the first bloom in 9 months. (though a second followed close behind.)

It’s a damn cold night here in NOLA- hard freeze warnings on both the North and South shores, my heater is not cooperating, and I have too much to do tonight to rely on some real Schnapps-like beverage to create any internal warmth, so we’ll just have to Think Spring.

Or Schnapps. Whatever works for you.

It’s been a slow grower, but despite not being very big made it through the winter just fine and has started to bloom with fair regularity.

Every time I see the puppy hiding in and around the flowers, I think of Ferdinand the Bull, who just “wanted to sit quietly and smell the flowers.”

:::sigh:::

What a lovely idea. If only Bruiser would sit quietly and smell the flowers instead of running around like a loon, using Kassie’s ears as handles, and doing his level best to destroy every shoe in the house.

Not to mention chasing the cats everywhere. No, this really isn’t a pacifist dog.

Of course, given the look on Ferdinand’s face, one has to wonder exactly what flowers it is he’s smelling…