Hardy Hibiscus in July

Now that it is July, each of the plants is doing its best to make a show, as the picture above makes clear.  There was one casualty last winter, the large viburnum bush that screens much of the labyrinth from the road and the neighbors nosey eyes, got confused and entered Winter in Spring mode.  Much of it was killed off. 

If you look at the right of the photo where you see our neighbor's bright white front steps, you will see a few of the viburnum's remaining branches.  It is supposed to hide those steps.  You can see on the right, the new suckers that are coming up from the roots.  Each is only about a foot tall, but these are the future trunks of the bush.  Once they get big enough, the old ones will get cut out.

But the topic for today is the hardy hibiscus, of which there are now three.  Each provides some bright color in pink, red or mauve.  If you go back to the top panorama, you can see all three.  In order, from the right and below those white steps is a bright pink one, just to the right of the center tree trunk is a dark red one, and below the left side of our neighbor's arch top trellis is a mauve one.  Each has a different history and style.

The pink one comes from the house my family owned in Pleasant Valley, New York.  My parents bought a large, old farmhouse, and in the first few years I discovered a hibiscus growing along the side of the pond.  When I showed Mom the flowers, she knew what it was, and had me dig it up to plant it up next to the bay window.  This was in the mid-60's, and it was probably originally planted by the previous owners who had landscaped the area near the pond.  I assume it is an early variety of Hibiscus moscheutos, but cannot find any source on the Internet to identify it.

The color is bright and simple, and the flower is not complicated. Each flower lasts about a day.  This particular plant was moved to the current location last fall, and has settled into its new home very quickly.  Since there are not as many buds on it, there will only be two weeks of flowers, but that period may lengthen as the plant gets bigger. 

The one in the middle, behind the tree is Hibiscus "Robert Fleming."  Its flowers are HUGE, at least 8 inches across, and open up very flat like a plate.  As you can see in the picture there are many buds to go on this stalk alone, and there are seven stalks.  These flowers stand out even when partially hidden by the foliage of other plants.  I first wrote about it last November, and I am still thrilled with this plant.  My only concern is that at the current rate of growth, which is near a young boxwood hedge, it will soon become much to large.  But I like it where it is.

The last hibiscus, which is a mauve/pink color is to the left.  I must apologize because i had planned to get a close-up of it, but never took that picture.  But then, I also wasn't able to find its name, and since I am trying to be sure to include accurate names whenever possible, I will need to catch up on that one later.  We bought it to grow on the porch last summer, and put it in the ground in the Fall.

I will close with a shot taken from the road to the right of the top picture.  You will see the church bird feeder I painted a couple years ago - this is the first it has been put out in the garden.  We plan a vine to grow up the post, but haven't picked one out yet. The post is there to prevent future vehicles, including snow plows, from driving through the garden and hedges.  If they try it again, at least their vehicle will get as messed up as the garden has been.  Anyway, here is the shot.