GARDENINGHIBISCUS is a shrub that likes it hot and the blue variety is one that delights just outside our kitchen window.
Hibiscus syriacus is a shrub that performs best when the sun is out and the mercury’s rising. If you’ve got a sunny place in your garden with neutral or slightly acidic soil, then Hibiscus syriacus could be just the plant to deliver bags of colour.
'Diana’ bears big, white flowers, up to 12cm across. The blooms of 'Woodbridge’ are a rich pink, with beautiful dark centres up to 10cm in diameter and the flowers of 'Oiseau Bleu’ are a gorgeous bright blue.
Hibiscus syriacus 'Red Heart’ is a plant that produces flowers with delicate white petals and rich, dark red centres.
A medium to large deciduous shrub, hibiscus syriacus can reach a height of up to 3m and a width of about 2m. They are perfect for shrub or mixed borders and are great for combining with agapanthus, penstemons and asters. The purple foliage of berberis or smoke bush is also an attractive accompaniment to the various pastel shades of Hibiscus flowers. Once fully established, the larger varieties of hibiscus can be draped with late-flowering climbers, which can help to maximise the plant value you can derive from small spaces.
July is when most of them come out to salute the sun, and this performance can carry on into early autumn.
Make sure, however, you keep it well watered through the growing season. Mine gets the washing-up bowl emptied on it during drought.
Syriacus varieties are mainly frost-hardy but ask when you buy whether the variety you have chosen needs any special attention in cold weather.