About 8:30 this morning:
Five hours later:
Well. . . aloha.
This is the second bloom I’ve seen on this particular tropical hibiscus. None of my others are this flashy dramatic.
Surrounding it are several Justicia brandegeeana or shrimp plants, which are always in bloom.
This is a small planting bed near the entrance to the front terrace. We removed* all the old clipped shrubs from this area early last summer, but in a combination of fatigue and indecision, I just cut this bush to the ground, thinking it could die (or not) in place.
A couple of months ago, I noticed that it had sent up two stems and that flower buds were developing. I was a little amazed about a week and a half ago when the first one opened.
It goes well with the shrimp plants, so I’ll just leave it here and keep it pruned to about 4′ – 5′ tall. The yellow-flowering plant in front of it is a Missouri primrose (Oenothera missouriensis). It is an American native annual that self-seeds around the garden.
On the opposite end of the showy-ness scale, I discovered last week that our cactus-like Euphorbia (above and below) is blooming.
The flowers are a little over a 1/4″ across.
GBBD — the 15th of every month — is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Click here to see other garden bloggers’ mid-July flowers.
*It was among the bushes on the right in this photo. It was always clipped, so it probably hasn’t bloomed for a long time.
enclos*ure 
Love seeing the shrimp plants blooming up a storm. The hibiscus does look pretty with them. Happy GBBD.
Thanks! I went out this morning, and the hibiscus bloom had already closed up and started to droop — but there are several more buds on the stem.
That golden tropical hibiscus is fabulous. I keep forgetting to even plant the hardier type that will handle Massachusetts weather. Although it is getting more and more tropical here.
I have some rosy-red hardy hibiscus seedlings in the vegetable garden right now. I want to put them in the flower bed that you can see across the driveway in the first photo above. They are supposed to be fast growers, although I have not seen much action so far.
My gold/red/pink hibiscus above will probably bloom one at a time this year, but it will be a party each time.
[…] ← Bloom Day in July: tropical hibiscus July 16, 2013 · 12:48 pm ↓ Jump to Comments […]
I don’t think I could ever get tired of looking at that hibiscus with its amazing color combination. It reminds me of sunrise.
Each bloom is a one-day wonder, I’m afraid, but there seem to be more on the way. I was so surprised at its flamboyance — and that it managed to more or less match the surrounding plants.
[…] border are light pink Abutilon x hybridum or Chinese lantern bush. The cactus-like plant is a euphorbia. There’s a huge traveller’s palm behind […]