Wally, I'm new to hibiscus growing and returning to gardening this year. In the past I grew a few tea roses and if I kept my climbers cut short, they would bloom profusely and would be thick, healthy bushes. Your comment leads me to believe I can do this with hibiscus? Are there any hibiscus that you wouldn't do this with? I have about 8 new plants that I've put in the ground in the last couple of months. Some are just dense with leaves and others are leggy, dropping leaves from the stress of planting and not replacing the leaves. I'd really like to establish them correctly and will trim them back if it will establish healthier bushes. Darren

Hi everybody. I guess I should have looked for help here a long time ago, but since I have yet to kill the tree living in my house there's always hope. First off, let me say that I am COMPLETELY IGNORANT about hibiscus. I do have halberd-leaf mallows in the yard, but they're native and don't ask me for anything. The trouble is this: I have a hibiscus that was given to me as a cutting when I was a sophomore in high school, and it has patiently suffered my ignorance for 20 years and is now a 6 foot tree. My lack of knowledge has only slighly improved since I learned just last year that it is a hibiscus schizopetalus after spotting one in a butterfly park down south. It did bloom nicely as a young plant but since then has maybe put out one or two blooms in the past 5 years. Other than keeping it looking a healthy shade of green I am sure I have been doing everything wrong. What do I need to do to coax this plant to bloom? Here's what I know about it: started from a cutting in 85 Transplanted only when it began to show signs of serious decline I live in southern Illinois--it gets put outside in the late spring and brought back in this time of year. We live in deep woods so full sun is a rare thing...good for ginseng, not for hibiscus! In winter it gets a sunny window when indoors. Our house is kept at around 70 during this time. Space is an issue so I was forced to dramatically prune it back every so many years. Currently in a pot approx 13-14 inch diam. Rarely fertilized except at transplant time and then lightly I spoke to a horticulturist at the butterfly park where I spotted this growing and was told never to prune after February. Not a single bud this season. This is almost like a part of the family now since it has made it this far. We decorate it for Christmas for Pete's sake. I just wonder what to do to get it to flower again.

That is funny, I would never have thought it could refuse to bloom. I had it for a number of years, and it flowered faithfully. I got rid of it because it was too aggressive for my small garden. The friend who gave it to me let it rampage to its heart’s content over several square yards. It was just a boring green area for most of the year, but when it bloomed, he sat on his high deck, looking out like a king over his own private sea of gold ;-). Both his and my garden have alkaline clay soil. But yes, if it does not work out for you, just find another tall sunflower.

They look a little stunted, to tell you the truth. The northwest wall usually doesn't receive a vast amount of sun, and dahlia are definitely full sun critters. I have mine in 10-12 hours of sun per day. I'd also call them pretty good feeders in good sun as well. I feed very heavily with an organic monthly, and lightly weekly with a synthetic. All things considered, it counts as "a ton" of food. Even so, this was...not a great year for dahlia and mine aren't doing fantastically well, either. I think it was simply too hot, amazingly enough (the durable dahlia doesn't mind heat). My Thomas Edison isn't blossoming well, and usually those are troopers. The Garden Wonder is...not wondrous. The Duet is not singing. The smaller dahlia are doing well, but the larger ones are not.