CHERRY CHOCO LATTE Hardy Hibiscus -- Plant in 4.5" pot

Hibiscus ’Cherry Choco Latte’ has a white flower with deep pink veining and a large dark red eye. The plant grows 4 ft tall and wide. The flowers can reach 8-9 inches in diameter on mature plants. The olive-green foliage develops bronze highlights in full sun. Developed at Walters Gardens, Inc. in Michigan, this hybrid was introduced in 2019. It is a named clone that cannot be grown from seed. The plants I sell of it are all grown from tissue culture. A Proven Winners® SUMMERIFIC™ selection. This is a patented cultivar, Plant Patent 30738. Photos are courtesy of Walters Gardens, Inc.

You are purchasing a healthy, fully established, hardy hibiscus plant (H. moscheutos) in a 4.5" pot. This is a plant that is large enough to produce quality blooms this summer. These plants are currently 9-17 inches tall but growing very fast as they have large root systems; most were over 3 ft tall last year. These plants have big food reserves in their roots that are driving their growth, unlike the weak greenhouse transplants that other vendors sell. When the plants become tall I use special long cartons, in order to avoid trimming the plants (and your chances for blooms this year). All of my hardy hibiscus plants have been overwintered here in Iowa. This is important for you to know because young plants (especially those from tissue culture) sometimes do not grow the following season. If they sprout and grow during the second growing season, they will not have any problems in subsequent seasons. Some growers are selling plants that have not yet gone through a dormancy period, and some are producing these plants from cuttings and selling them for less. Although plants grown from cuttings will grow very well their first year, cuttings lack the juvenile status of a plant from tissue culture or from seed, so they do not have any renewal buds and therefore cannot grow the following year.

This is a hardy hibiscus in USDA Zones 4-8 (search the internet for "USDA Hardiness Zone Map"). In Zones 9-11, these plants should be grown as annuals, for they usually do not receive a sufficient amount of time in cold dormancy in the winter to survive there. Hardy hibiscus are fast growers and quick to bloom, so that growing them as annuals in the extended growing season of Zones 9-11 can be very rewarding if the plants are planted early in the season. Hardy hibiscus are herbaceous perennials that always die to the ground every fall, regardless of the climate. Their stems are not woody and they are not shrubs. They are much slower to start growth than virtually all other perennials--because they need hot weather to grow. It is an excellent idea to make a permanent label for your hibiscus. You can also plant a summer-dormant perennial that needs cool weather, such as an Oriental poppy, a few inches to the side of it, so that you will be less likely to accidentally damage the hibiscus while it is dormant. The Oriental poppy will fill the void early each spring and will go summer-dormant soon after hot weather arrives, just as the hibiscus is starting to grow again. Once hot weather arrives, these hibiscus grow very fast. Mature plants of the taller cultivars will grow from zero to over six feet tall in two months. The flowering period extends from mid-summer through fall and the highest quality flowers are produced when temperatures are warm or hot and when the plants have ample moisture. Hardy hibiscus are very easy to grow. Be sure to give them room to grow, as these are big plants. Keep them watered and plant them in a location that receives at least six hours of sun each day (they will grow and flower with less sun but the stems will be weaker and there will be fewer flowers). They do not need fertilizer when grown in most soils.

If you are in USDA Zones 4 or 5, I strongly recommend planting these hibiscus so that two to three inches of soil is over the rootball. Such deep planting would kill most perennials, but not these hardy hibiscus. This is because they are native to swampy areas--their roots do not need as much aeration as those of most other plants. The plants might emerge a little more slowly in the spring, but this deep planting will help protect the dormant renewal buds of the crown during the winter. Before planting please remember that hibiscus need heat to grow, and that above-ground portions of the plant are sensitive to cold temperatures. Do not plant hardy hibiscus that are in active growth until the weather is consistently warm outdoors (above 45ºF at night) and the soil has warmed. Instead, keep them indoors in a sunny window until they can go outside