Everything You Need to Know About Hibiscus - FineGardening (2024)

Few perennials are as flamboyant as hibiscus. Their flowers can be up to 10inches wide or larger, which is inconceivable for something that’s not tropical. Hibiscuses have been in gardens for a long time, but with all the recent enhancements in flower colors and sizes, foliage shapes and hues, and compact habits, they’re not the same as grandma’s plants anymore. Although I think they’re fun and the perfect antidote to fussy landscapes, my impression is that people either love them or hate them. The gigantic flowers are exotic and charismatic to some, while others find them too big and garish.

Their size isn’t the only thing that’s not subtle. They put their sex right in your face: The male and female reproductive parts are held on long bottle brushes that protrude from the centers of the flowers with a bright red bull’s-eye marking the base of the column. Many older selections are more plant than flower, but newer cultivars have been bred to be indeterminate. The result is more flowers from tip to toe and a longer bloom period, which is the case with the following favorites from our trial.

Hibiscus At a Glance

Hibiscus spp. and cvs.

USDA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 9

Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; moist, well-drained soil

Bloom time: Mid- to late summer through early to midfall

Propagation: From cuttings off new growth, from seeds, or by division in spring

Maintenance: A late-spring pinching can force plants to have a bushier habit

When ‘Cranberry Crush’ bloomed for the first time, I was immediately captivated by the boldness of its deep scarlet-red flowers—the color is so intense that the red eye is barely discernible at the center of the slightly cupped petals. Equally fun are the nearly black flower buds that swell like balloons before opening. The maplelike leaves start a shiny deep bronze but turn dark green with purple overtones later in the season. ‘Cranberry Crush’ received high marks for its great flower show, dense rounded habit, and reliability, but to be honest, the vivid flowers could be plunked on a stick and I’d still be crazy about this plant.

Objectivity is key to a fair trial, but it’s too easy to have favorites. Right now, it’s ‘Heartthrob’. The deep blood-red flowers with darker black-red eyes are irrepressibly seductive, while the whopping 9-inch flowers only heighten the allure. The oval-shaped leaves and stems are green at all times—it’s like there was no more color to spare! ‘Heartthrob’ makes a neat, compact bush about as tall as wide, which you’ll appreciate all summer but probably won’t give much thought to once the flowers pop.

With voluptuous scarlet-red flowers, dark burgundy foliage, and a robust rounded habit, ‘Midnight Marvel’ might just have it all. Its slightly cupped flowers are as vibrant as ‘Cranberry Crush’, while the maplelike leaves are darkly brooding. ‘Midnight Marvel’ holds its leaf color for most of the season but dims to bronze-purple in midsummer and is half green by early fall. I find the touch of yellowish green at the base of the leaves quite fetching but wish ‘Midnight Marvel’ also had the striking yellow-green terminal leaves of the cultivar ‘Summer Storm’. Like so many of the new selections, ‘Midnight Marvel’ is very long blooming and handsome at every stage.

I would be over the moon about ‘Party Favor’ even if it never bloomed. The green, deeply dissected maplelike leaves are wonderfully textural and all the more striking against the red stems. The large scale of the plant—more than 4feet tall and 5feet wide—doesn’t seem as imposing due to the refined quality of the foliage. You can enjoy the foliage show for a long time because ‘Party Favor’ begins blooming later than most cultivars and keeps flowering nearly to frost. The enormous blossoms have bright pink petals irregularly streaked with red and dotted with a red eye. The flowers may come late but are always plentiful.

Hibiscus Trial Results

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