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woodyoak

First red hibiscus bloom today! ...and other stuff....

Hibiscuses are the stars of the August garden here and the red ones always stand out/grab one's attention. The first 'Fireball' opened today, but no flowers yet from Lord Baltimore, Luna Red or Midnight Marvel. The pale pink Disco Belles (?) started blooming about 10 days ago but are not quite at their peak. The dark pink one also opened its first flower today.

Fireball - an odd picture but I couldn't get any closer as the bed is packed with stuff at this point in the season :-)
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The hibiscus to the left of the veronicastrum in this picture is a red one (Lord Baltimore) that makes a striking combination with the white of the veronicastrum and the hydrangeas in the background when it gets around to blooming - hopefully in a few days from now....
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The deep pink no-name:
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The pale pinks that are most common in our garden:
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Most of the pale pink ones have a deep pink eye but, as you can see in this picture, some of them do not have the dark eye
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The 'Bobo' hydrangea I added last year to replace a phlox 'David' is in bloom now but still quite small. This is another not-very-good picture showing it with some of its companions. The dwarf white butterfly bush is the only butterfly bush that survived the winter for me! It was planted late last summer too. The 'My Monet' weigelia is still tiny in its third or fourth year now - but is starting to look like maybe it might actually turn into something worth its place in the garden! The red stems in the background belong to another 'Fireball' hibiscus.
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On the south side of the driveway the 'hot' garden is looking good - better than this picture shows as the colors are all washed out in the picture!
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The 'Midnight Marvel' red hibiscus is on the far side of the dark ninebark shrub and its foliage blends in completely with the shrub. I hope that, when the hibiscus blooms, it'll look like the ninebark has red flowers....The 'Paprika' rose is suffering from aphids but still blooming and getting ready to form the relatively showy hips. The 'Pink Beauty' potentilla shrub flower color is more peachy-pink than it appears in the picture. Temeratures have been cooler than normal here which always brings out the peach tone in the potentilla flowers.

The empty spot between the potentilla and the heucheras in the picture below is waiting for an orange Mammoth mum to arrive at a local garden center....
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I'm always a bit surprised by the front garden in August. There's more going on there than I expect!

Comments (8)

  • mxk3 z5b_MI
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great pics! I *adore* hibiscus!

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Gorgeous hibiscus Woody, this is one of the plants I have never grown, I think maybe because most of my flowerbeds are on the small size, or is it I haven't actually seen them for sale when I haunt the garden centres :). By the way I love your veronicastrum, I'll have to keep my eyes open for that one.

    Annette

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Annette - because hibiscuses are so late to start in the spring, you never see them in garden centers until this time of year when they are ready to/in bloom. They are easy to start from seed and bloom in the first year, so you could grow them from seed for pots.

    Veronicastrum are wonderful plants IMO that look great with just about everything and are a beautiful addition to the late summer garden. They do get to be big clumps though, so if you don't have a lot of space, you may need to divide them frequently.

    Some of these pictures are old now, but here are some of my favorite combinations that include veronicastrum:

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  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Woody that first picture is magical, the rest aren't too shabby either, lovely combinations :).

    Annette

  • pitimpinai
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Quoting the "Last Farewell" lyric, "...For you are so beautiful. More beautifu than spoken words can tell...."
    :-D

  • katob Z6ish, NE Pa
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice hibiscus pictures, i always think they stick out too much, but in your garden they all blend perfectly. Maybe it's time to rescue mine from under the dogwood and give it a little tlc.
    Love the veronicastrum pictures, beautiful.

  • gardenweed_z6a
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Beautiful!!

    My seed-grown, winter sown hardy hibiscus are bursting into bloom at the moment. I spotted them today and am thrilled to see dozens of buds on the plants, ensuring a spectacular show over the course of the next week or two. For accent/contrast, blue balloon flowers and white gaura are blooming in front of them.

    Sorry no pics. Lost my Photoshop app a few years ago and photo hosting site not long after that.

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    kato - yeah, sometimes hibiscuses can 'stick out'. I think I sort of solved that problem by accident :-) I tend to plant things as part of a bigger picture - i.e. I always consider what other plants a particular plant will be partnered with - the individual is always part of a group; the color scheme of the area it will be added to; the relative size of the plant and the companion plants; and all the usual considerations of soil, light and moisture. There are a lot of hibiscuses in the front garden now and they are a key part of the August garden display. They are very showy but they also play well with the other things in bloom at this time of year in the pink/white/blue color ranges. I think hibiscuses tend to 'stick out' when they are grown as a specimen plant and/or are pink ones paired with golds. To pair with golds/orange/rusty red, I think (hope!) the hibiscuses with dark foliage and dark red flowers would work best - I will find out if that works when the 'Midnight Marvel' in my 'hot' bed blooms (soon, I hope!)

    I'd love to see pictures of how other people blend in hardy hibiscuses into the garden....

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