2004

Tahitian Purple Splendor was awarded the IHS HOTY, Hibiscus of the Year, for 2004 with 53.94 votes received. It was bred and entered by Richard Johnson, from Tahiti. Here we provide you some of the photos and supplemental data submitted to the HPOJ, HOTY Panel Of Judges, upon which they based their votes to select the eventual winner.

Our congratulations go to Richard for winning this IHS HOTY competition. We thank the hybridizers who entered candidates in this program, in this case at their own expense. We thank the evaluators who grew the plants and provided the photos and data. We thank Nina Bjelovucic, the IHS HOTY coordinator, for her tireless efforts in collecting this information from the trialing stations and passing it to the HPOJ. We of course thank the judges and most of all we thank the membership for participating in the initial SOTY selections, which form the core of the IHS HOTY Program. In this respect the IHS is unique in that the membership and affiliates are able to vote on what they consider to be the most beautiful of the candidates presented, after which the HPOJ narrows the field based upon their expert evaluation of the candidates chosen by the membership.

http://www.internationalhibiscussociety.org/TPCPhotos/2004 Soty/2004_soty.htm

The top four candidates were selected from a field of 14 , [the photos of the 14 entries can be seen at the above address] and the one with the most points was selected as the IHS SOTY, Seedling Of The Year. Tahitian Cherry Blossom received that honor as the IHS 2004 SOTY, while Topaz Glory X Fifth Dimension was third and Tahitian Purple Splendor was fourth. However, trialing has shown Tahitian Purple Splendor to be the best of the candidates tested.

For complete trialing data check this link and supplementary data is listed at the end after the HOTY 2004 HPOJ vote. Some of the comments are note worthy. Also you can see Photos from the Non-Trialing Stations if you click on the link at the bottom of the home page in the address above

Although our system has worked, there are things to be reconsidered and considerable room for improvement. Importantly, however, after years of efforts with untold hours spend by several dozen people in formulating this program and setting it in motion, we are finally able to see the second result. We hope it will motivate others to participate in the IHS HOTY program, which is available to anyone, anywhere in the world regardless of their hibiscus organization affiliations.


Tahitian Purple Splendor in a pot	Tahitian Purple Splendor

Tahitian Purple Splendor	Tahitian Purple Splendor
From Richard Johnson: As the hybridizer, I am, of course, once again very honored that one of my seedlings, Tahitian Purple Splendor, has been selected as the IHS HOTY for the year 2004. In my climate Tahitian Purple Splendor blooms well, has very little variation in color and the form is always impeccable. I hope others will find it to be as fine a flower in their gardens as it has been in mine.
Photos of the runners up

Tahitian Cherry Blossom won second place with 53.23 votes and entered by Richard Johnson	Joland Gommer was third with 52,26 votes and entered by Hendrik Gommer
	Early American was fourth with 52.04 votes and entered by Larry Johnson