Perennial Hibiscus

(Question)

This is my first year for having a Perrenial Hibiscus coming back after the winter. We planted it last year early summer and it did very well. I live in Kitchener On. and am wondering my plant is currently 10″-11″ tall and has no flower buds as of yet. Is this normal or is there something wrong with the plant. I have researched and cannot find anything on the internet to answer this question. I water it at least once a day and have used Mircle Gro shake and feed fertilizer on it now about 3 times. I look forward to your reply. Thank you

(Answer)

Perennial Hibiscus are hardy to around -20 degrees C which falls into the hardiness zone 6 which means your plant should overwinter in Kitchener if it has some protection from a cold northerly winter wind.

I’m a little confused by the size of your plant – do you mean 10-11 feet tall or 10-11 inches?

If it is the former, I would suggest you may just need to be patient and wait for the plant to produce buds as the flowering period in our climate is mid-late summer.

In the meantime, take a look at the fertilizer you have been feeding – if it is one with a high Nitrogen (N first number) content it will encourage vegetative growth at the expense of flowering.  Also, note if you are fertilizing a nearby lawn, take a look at the N:P:K ratios on the package as this can also impact flowering with the Hibiscus roots taking up the lawn fertilizer.  I would advise you to stop fertilizing now anyway as you want the plant to do 2 things – make flower buds and harden off any new growth before the winter.

Your watering schedule could be cut back to every second day once our weather starts to cool off a little, towards the end of the month. I’m not familiar with the soil type in and around Kitchener but needless to say, you want to make your plant reach out with its roots in order to source nutrients and water from it’s own surroundings rather than it relying on you and your hose.  This will, in the long term, form a healthier plant and also give it a good strong anchor in the ground.

If your plant falls into the later smaller size category, then your plant is not mature enough yet to produce flowers as it is focused on growing roots and building strong limbs.

Hope this helps.