How to Plant a Hibiscus Plant

Hi this is Yolanda Vanveen and in this segment I'm going to talk about how to plant a hibiscus. Now there's many different types of hibiscus plants and they're crossing them with many other plants as well and coming up with new creations. Now the original hibiscus are very, very tender. They will not make it over the winter in colder climates. So they have to be kept above 50 degrees at all times and you don't want to put them in full hot sun if you live in a real hot climate because they grow naturally under the canopy in very tropical jungle conditions. So they do like warm shade the best. Now they're easy to grow and there's many crosses. Now this plant right here is a hibiscus lilac cross. So it's a little heartier than the original hibiscus but yet it still can go only down to barely freezing, then you might lose it. And it's done blooming so it looks kind of ratty. So I've found, too, with hibiscus when you're transplanting or you're starting them, it's always best to trim them down a little bit and get some new growth going. Because when you transplant it you want to encourage new growth. So just by thinning it out a little bit, and I know there's some yellow leaves, it does this at the end of summer, too a lot as they grow. But I just kind of trim those out or pull them out, too. And periodically, too, you can just pull some of the yellow leaves out. But I've found by just trimming it back a little bit you can encourage some new growth. Now you want to leave at least 1/3 of the plant remaining. You don't want to trim it back too much either. Because if you trim it down too much down to the wood then it wont have any new growth. So now hibiscus usually have a pretty thick set of roots. So a lot of times, too, because this needs to be transplanted it's not doing as well. So what I like to do, too is when I'm transplanting or planting things, break off some of the dirt and shake it. Don't break it completely but just break off some of that dirt in the roots and give it some stimulation. It needs to get some new air in there and new growth. And too, when you're transplanting, too then just don't have a big brick that you're putting in the ground. It's going to root. And the thing about most plants is I don't separate the roots out, I like to keep them tight. They want to be crowded to bloom well. So I'm going to turn around and I'm just going to plant this hibiscus right in this flower bed and cover it up. So you do not want to cover up the stem to the plant and the main branch. You don't want to cover it too far because it'll make it rot. So you just want to cover it to the top of the root line. And they need good drainage so you want to really bring them up. You want them in a raised bed somewhere where they're not going to sit and rot. Now hibiscus are wonderful, too, because you can trim them back and they'll come back. But they do get sunburned really easily and they fall over, too if they're in pots. Sometimes they get really top heavy. And they want to keep moist but never really too wet to sit in a bog. And once you've transplanted them water it well but pretty much ignore it and it'll bloom all summer. And then if you live in a cold climate leave it in a pot. Moist but not too moist, kind of on the dry side. Inside for the winter. And if you save that root a lot of times you can get it to grow the next year. It's really as easy as that.