Yellow Hibiscus

[Joshua]

Hi All,

My other half bought this yellow Hibisicus to add to potted balcony garden. She isn't keen on making bonsai out of them but since there were three of them I convinced her to let me have one to play with. Unfortunately didn't keep the ticket that said the exact species name.

We're going to divide them into three separate pots, with one going back into the one they came in.

I had no idea if they could be good bonsai material (or in general healthy potted plants) but after some searching on the forums I found a bit of info. I get the impression they're pretty tough.

hibiscus_foliage.jpeg

Looks quite big for the size of the pot so I suspected it's going to be pretty root-bound.

hibiscus_roots.jpeg

As assumed, very root bound, it was pushing itself up out of the pot.
Not sure if it's a good time to repot/root prune: it's springtime here and it's covered in flower buds that are just about ready to open. But it seems like it desperately needs it.

hibiscus_trunks.jpeg

Hesitating between choosing the thickest one or the one with the lowest branching. Perhaps need to see below the soil surface a little.

Just gave them a good watering, and we'll repot them in a few hours. I'm also unsure if it'll be ok with so much foliage and potentially losing a lot of roots.

[kcpoole]

The can and do make excellent Bonsai,
They wil back bud readily so when selecting stock go keep that in mind as you can take the longer view and build taper and interest in the trunk

Ken

[GavinG]

Maybe pot them all into a bigger pot for now, with just a very gentle teasing of the roots, and then the full root-pruning treatment in early spring there, when the buds are thickening and just about to shoot.

Good luck,

Gavin

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

I’ve been pot growing these ones for approx. 4 years now from stock very similar size to what you have just bought.
No special care requirements too much, they will however attract all hungry bugs you may have living in France. Munch munch on every leaf.

As Ken mentioned they are very tough, and can handle most torture techniques well - even the popular "Oops..it's dried out" one!
These get cut back really hard when flowers finish and the leaves & branches start to look spent.

They do brighten your day with generous amounts of blooms...& I like that the most.

IMG_1465.jpg

[Joshua]

I ended up doing the repotting the next day, didn't have time on saturday.

hibiscus before potting.jpeg

I chose this one. Thought it had a potentially interesting roots and a low branch.
I managed to get the three plants apart without too much damage I think. Pruned the roots of this one and planted the other two directly in other pots (one a fair bit bigger). It will be interesting to compare how they go.

This one I planted in a bigger conainer over another inverted pot.
The two roots at the top (going right and left) were shortened so they could sit flat on top of the soild in the new pot, and everything underneath cut really short and the root ball reduced a bit. I regret not getting an after photo.

I planted it on a bit of an angle too, to make the roots a bit more flat with the surface, and using a jar for support. It was sort of hard to position because that root at the back which was going up then down, so had to pile a bit of extra dirt to cover it.
I also decided to cut off the flower buds, thinking it should save its energy to recover from the operation. No idea if that was the right thing to do. At least we'll get flowers from the other two.

Here it is in the pot. Today it seemed fine in the morning but has been sulking a little in the sun.

hibiscus potted.jpeg

[Joshua]

Thanks for the advice.
Pretty sure it's a tropical variety so probably going to have to bring it inside in the winter? How low a temp can they go?

Maybe pot them all into a bigger pot for now, with just a very gentle teasing of the roots, and then the full root-pruning treatment in early spring there, when the buds are thickening and just about to shoot.

As you can see I went ahead with it already. Wasn't super gentle on the roots but didn't bare-root it either.

can handle most torture techniques well

These get cut back really hard when flowers finish and the leaves & branches start to look spent.

Not sure what you mean by the leaves and branches looking spent?