Don’t Buy Hibiscus Until You Know This 🌺, by Grow By Zone on YouTube. 5 min 45 s.
- Video length
- 5 min 45 s
- Time to do it
- 30 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
Decide what you want from the plant: a tropical look, giant flowers, a flowering shrub, or leaves and calyxes for tea. That choice points to the right type before you buy.
Pick tropical hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) if you live in a warm climate or plan to grow it in a container you can move indoors. It does not tolerate frost.
Choose hardy hibiscus if your garden has cold winters. It dies back to the ground and returns in spring, and it gives the largest flowers of the group.
Go for Rose of Sharon if you want a woody flowering shrub for landscape colour, or roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) if you want edible calyxes for drinks and tea.
Check the plant label against your USDA growing zone before you pay. A plant sold as hardy may still be a tropical type that will die in your winter.
Plant in full sun in soil that drains well. Set the plant at the same depth it grew in its pot, firm the soil and water it in deeply.
Water when the top few centimetres of soil feel dry, and feed during the growing season. Potted tropical hibiscus dries out faster than plants in the ground.
Watch for aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs and spider mites on new growth and flower buds. Check the undersides of leaves and rinse pests off with water before they spread.
Harvest roselle calyxes when they are plump and red, then dry them for tea or simmer them fresh for drinks.
Tips and common mistakes
Move potted tropical hibiscus indoors before the first frost, not after it, since cold nights damage buds and leaves.
A hardy hibiscus that looks dead in winter is usually dormant, so mark the spot and wait for spring before digging it up.
Hibiscus that refuses to bloom is often in too much shade or too dry at the roots.
Only use flowers for tea or drinks from plants you know were not sprayed with garden chemicals.
Questions
Can a tropical hibiscus survive winter outdoors?
Only in warm frost-free zones. Elsewhere, grow it in a pot and bring it inside or into a greenhouse before the first frost.
Why is my hibiscus not blooming?
The usual causes are too little sun, dry soil, or too much nitrogen feed, which pushes leaves instead of buds. Move it into more sun and water regularly.
Which hibiscus is used for tea?
Roselle, Hibiscus sabdariffa, is the type grown for hibiscus tea and drinks. You harvest the red calyxes, not the petals.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
