Does anyone grow hibiscus outside? This year I noticed them growing in Loveland and was surprised. I thought they only grew in warmer climates. The ones I have in CA are huge and keep their leaves year-round. Just as I was thinking about them a Breck's catalogue showed up in my mail with a red hibiscus on the cover. I finally ordered two yesterday.

Description

Though their blooms look exotic, these hybrid hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos) are native U.S. varieties and good for American wildlife. Both cultivars are bred from North American hibiscus still found in our ecosystem today. Our Exotic Hibiscus Collection carries the attributes of its ancestry, providing food for native hummingbirds and butterflies, with the added benefit of new traits, including gorgeous foliage in contrasting, deep hues. They are also quite adaptable—growing in almost any soil—and naturalize like a dream.

An island getaway in your own backyard—it seems like a daydream. Especially in cold, Northern climates. But our Exotic Hibiscus Collection sets a tropical scene all the way up to zone 4, which gets as cold as −30°F! Set up your garden chairs amid the tranquil hues of a beach sunset—lush, dark foliage in beautiful contrast with vibrant reds and purples. Tropical, saucerlike flowers cover the massive plants from top to bottom—a big improvement on old-fashioned, top-heavy varieties. Your exotic hibiscus will bloom again and again from midsummer to early fall and are very easy to care for—just sit back and relax in your very own garden paradise!

This collection includes Includes 1 each of Midnight Marvel and Starry Starry Night

Midnight Marvel Hibiscus: Huge, 7-9" flowers of pure red glow against the richest purple foliage in the genus! It is irresistible to hummingbirds.
Starry Starry Night Hibiscus: Blanketing the plant are 7-8" pinwheels of pale pink that are heavily veined in dark pink and sport deep red eyes. The near-black, maplelike foliage is equally striking.

 

We had them for a few years. The blooms are impressive in their size. They got a bit big for the area we had them in and the blooms don't live long. We tore them out after a few years. You might have a much better spot that we did.

 

and the finished product sequence but smaller for your viewing comfort.



and the finished product.


While I would have loved a split face granite wall instead, I'm ok with this.

 

Remind me again, what is going there?

 

I haven't been told yet. I think it is on a 'need-to-know' basis.

The retaining wall had to be there because of how they originally cut the step down in the foundation.
The standard wall starts just beyond the retaining wall and the old wall was collapsing.

options range anywhere from 'grass to hostas, to shrubs to a starter greenhouse. or all of the above.

 

As much as I sometimes curse the never ending falling leaves around our house, I do appreciate that I can look out the windows to see the neat fall colors.

 

I'll watch the colors of the tress across the street at the park. Thankfully, very few leaves from those trees make it to our yard. In other yard news, our shrub/tree guy finished trimming our tall shrubs, we also had him trim the lilac tree and two kousa dogwoods in the front. It's nice having "people." I'll grab some $ for him tomorrow.

Our plants are still hanging in there. They don't look all look great, but until the first frost they still add color.

 

Woke up to this big boy eating breakfast. Beautiful tail. Poor photo with iPhone through window; a video would have been better.

 

Might make a good winter hat.

 

Sort of like Davy Crockett?