Hibiscus Obsession!

Winter season is the dormancy period for hibiscus plants. However, the desi variety of hibiscus plants which I planted has shown some good results. Hence, I planned another visit to the nursary. It’s early Spring and my hibiscus obsession is at its peak.

On arriving, I started inquiring about more varieties of hibiscus plants. The salesperson told that there are a wide variety of hybrid hibiscus plants available with them. These are also called the dwarf variety and are available in wide range of colors. These usually grow a little over a foot, hence the name.

He started showing me the various plants available in stock at that time. He started with a pink variety which had larger flowers than the desi hibiscus variety, which I already own. He also showed a Yellow one along with Orange, a different shade of Red. So I asked him to give me one of each color.

I have added snippets of each plant, which I bought that day.

Back at home, I planted each of the plant in 12 inch plastic pots again with mostly cow dung manure. However, this time since the summer is approaching, I also added some cocopeat to the manure as well. This will help retain more water during the summer season.

This time as well, the plants were quite small and I was quite eager to see them grow as spring season approaches.

This time, to get even better results, I started applying micro-nutrients along with sea weed extract every 15 days. These help enrich the soil and help the plants get all the essential nutrients, which further enhances growth & blossom to their full potential.

All the plants were placed on the east facing balcony where they get almost 8 hours of sunlight daily. Also, watering is now required twice a day.

Watering once everyday will stress the plants in peak summer. Hence apart from the peak winters and the rainy days, make sure to water your hibiscus plants twice a day as these are heavy feeders. Also, the hibiscus plants have shallow roots so make sure to till the upper layer of soil every 15 days, so that the plant roots remain healthy and are able to absorb both nutrients and water.

As spring was approaching, within 10 days, I noticed few new leaves emerging from the stem. Definitely a good sign! As summer will approach, I am quite optimistic that this will emerge into a healthy plant and will bloom heavily and decorate my balcony garden for years to come.