Hibiscus International #4

www.internationalhibiscussociety.org

Contents:
(click on the title to directly access a given article)

Miscellaneous:

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

With spring on the way in the northern hemisphere, it’s time to start planning for the coming growing season. Whether you are just a collector of tropical plants or an avid researcher/hybridizer, the Queen of the Tropics offers a look into the beauty of this popular plant. We’ve seen with the numerous posts on our website that with the right care, tropical hibiscus can be grown from Canada to South Africa, from Florida to Alaska, from Europe, to Asia, to the islands of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. The secret to success rests with those who love the beauty of this plant.

We’ve also found that the IHS offers something for everyone – from the novice to the professional grower. It is a type of camaraderie that only someone sincerely interested in this flower can understand. Helpful pointers come our way each day, and we continue to learn and to share. In this way, we have become a “caring and sharing group” – a group open to people all over the world. Whether you classify it as an international interest, or a global interest, or merely a regional interest, the bottom line is that it is a personal interest. As you head out to the nurseries (or purchase from online sources), remember that you are a member of a growing family of hibiscus lovers. We care. We share. But most of all, we honor a flower that captures the interest of people everywhere. We just know how to put our desires to good use, and we come away with daily blessings of beauty and knowledge.

For everyone in the lower hemisphere, protect your babies from harm for you have given us much to envy in your gardens. Just remember, spring is just a few months away. You’ve had your time in the sun. Now we northern hibiscus lovers will move in for awhile and share our beauties with you. It’s a caring and sharing hibiscus world. We are truly blessed.

Damon Veach, Editor.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Hello Hibiscus Lovers Everywhere:

This issue of Hibiscus International (H.I.) corresponds approximately with the first year anniversary of the IHS. The mail list began April 25, 2000 but served essentially as a channel for formational communications until the IHS was officially launched June 22, 2000 with the simultaneous announcement of our associated web site. It has been an eventful year, wherein we began with a couple of dozen members and have multiplied many times since. We have shared innumerable great photos and come to find new friends in the true sense of the word across the globe.

H.I. began in November of 2000, and this is our fourth publication. It has proven to be a great success in the sense that we have found people who have provided hibiscus information that spans the globe. It is posted as a printable MS Word file for IHS members and importantly remains on the IHS web site as a permanent resource for posterity.

After a lengthy reconsideration of the Hibiscus Archive format, this project is ready to begin major expansion, hopefully to be underway by the time you read this issue of H.I. We presently have three archives: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis cultivars, Hibiscus Species, and a Mystery Photo Archives.

Upon completion of this first major revision, the H. r-s archive will contain many hundreds of cvs and perhaps be one of the few reference sources to have a significant listing of internationally originated cvs, with major contributions from America and Australia.

The Hibiscus Species archive is already one of the most complete in existence. Concerning the Mystery Photo Archive, anyone is able to have an unnamed hibiscus photo presented. Optionally with their contact information, it is hoped that eventually someone will be able to provide a name for some of these beautiful castaways, which for the most part have withstood the test of time and still persist even though their names for the most part have passed into oblivion. Eventually we may add additional archives, including Hibiscus Syracuse cv and Hibiscus Cousins. All of the above will be ongoing projects as new photos and more complete information becomes available.

We are also currently in the process of defining an IHS HOTY program. It will be the first format wherein cvs will be judged from around the world. It is yet to be determined whether this will be done purely on the basis of digital images meaning only the beauty of the bloom itself will be taken into consideration, or whether we will have an evaluation process where selected growers trial selected cvs. In any event, this will be another interesting aspect of the IHS helping to unite the hibiscus world from all corners of the planet.

We have yet another, "knock your socks off" major project in the works that will be of great interest to all hibiscus lovers everywhere, but you'll have to stay tuned to the next issue of H.I. to learn more.

Happy Hibiscus Growing To All,
Dick Johnson, Tahiti.

The Wizards of Oz Part II,

Following the Yellow Brick Road

In the last issue of Hibiscus International, I took you on a little trip to the land down under - to the Land of Oz. There is no Emerald City there. There are no lions, tin men, or scarecrows, but Oz has its own special attraction. Now we are not talking about Steve Irwin, who lives down the road a bit from the Glasshouse Mountains, but of a certain breed of hybridizers who are busy finding new cvs for us to click our heels about.

In the Glasshouse Mountains, we can find Allan and Elaine Little at their home at Boolarong on the Queensland Sunshine Coast. Allan is the Seed Officer for the Australian Hibiscus Society. If you are hankering for seed to try your hand at raising your own little Oz cvs, contact him and he will be happy to share some with you. Allan is relatively new to hibiscus as he has only been growing them for about 6 years.

Allan is a wonderful resource in seeds and information on growing hibiscus but his strength may well lie in a different arena. Lately, Allan has produced some lovely new seedlings that are not only stunning but they are really proving that Rosalind is a very good candidate for Mother of the Year.

To name a few, Accolade, Boolarong and Mountain Maid are some babies that are mouth watering and will make you wish for some ruby slippers to go and see them. These cvs show real promise, and we hope to see more from this hybridizer:

Registered
Dinka-Di, Sweet Sixteen (Little), Boolarong

Developing
Accolade, Mountain Maid, Chris Vidler, Wait n See, Pip, Wahine

Well, Australian Crocs have Steve Irwin and the Australian Hibiscus Society has Chris and Patricia Noble. To say Chris is a character understates this man and his many talents. Chris' sense of humor comes through in all communications with him, but he has led an exciting life.

Chris married his childhood sweetheart, Patricia, and Les Beers named a lovely cv (a sport of Ross Estey) in her honor. This particular cv has won "heaps of trophies."

Chris was a medical officer on the off shore rigs in Oz but in the mid 1970s, the Nobles purchased a hibiscus nursery in Melbourne and started down the road in love with the Queen of the Tropics.

In the 1980s the Nobles joined the AuHS and started exhibiting blooms. After visiting the state of Queensland, which is much warmer than Melbourne, the Nobles decided to sell the businesses and moved their family of 6 to two acres in Caboolture.

Chris decided to further his knowledge of horticulture and graduated with an associates degree in Applied Science, then went on to earn a degree in Business Management and studied Law, which I am sure is helpful in running two successful nurseries known as Hibiscus World.

Eventually, Chris served for 4 years as President of the AuHS and then was appointed International Hibiscus Registrar in 1995. But Chris seems not to be satisfied until he knows all he can about a subject. He has served as the AuHS webmaster and designer, show manager, and public relations officer and evaluator. Patricia is the current president of the Caboolture branch of the AuHS and has been serving for 4 years.

Chris Noble is mentioned in “Hibiscus in Colour” by Stan Palmer, “Hibiscus” by Jacqueline Walker, “Successful Gardening in Warm Climates” by Annette McFarlane, “Your Garden” by the National Gardening Magazine, and other publications. He has appeared on Totally Wild, Backyard Blitz and as a guest lecturer on other national and local radio gardening shows. Chris has six registered cvs, and I am sure many more will follow. Hibiscus World has over 2,500 cvs to choose from.

I would love to click the heels of my ruby slippers and be magically transported to the Land of Oz. I do not have a fairy godmother but I do know the mysterious flower genie. Maybe she can give me a magic carpet ride to the land down under where I can meet our hibiscus friends and throw something on the Barbie. Then I could meet the Wizards and see their gems of many colors.

Ah well, I have only dreamed of this far away land for several years and maybe one day, I will get to travel there and truly be transported to Hibiscus World.

Richard & Patricia Mansbridge live at Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, where they report perfect weather nearly every day. Hmmm, this sounds like hibiscus weather! But can you believe their luck? They are fortunate to live a hop, skip and a jump from Reg Cornwell. What luck! It's like having Mr. Australian Hibiscus as a consultant!

Richard has 70 different cvs and has a constantly changing palette as he discards cvs he feels do not possess qualities suitable for hybridizing. The qualities Richard finds important are firm texture and good form. Since the Mansbridges live in a limited area of 860 square meters, they just have enough room for their cvs and seedlings. Once a seedling is proved, Richard grafts it and discards the seedling.

Richard has registered four cvs, which are Aussie Gold, Eric Robert, Teresa Carmel and Stella Maris. He has some more blooms being evaluated and hopes that these will pass the stringent guidelines.

At the Mansbridge's place, there is a surplus of seeds, and thanks to the perfect weather, Richard can supply the Australian Hibiscus Society and their seed officer, Allan Little, with many different crosses. These are available for the asking. So if you want a small piece of Oz in your garden, please do not hesitate to contact Allan Little, and you might get lucky and get some of Richard's seeds.

A glorious morning with cerulean blue skies shone upon the enchanted garden. A new glorious orange beauty stood out in the garden like a beacon. This glorious gem drew the mysterious flower genie near until she could look in awe at its loveliness. This gem was a gift to the mysterious flower genie from a land to the west near a great majestic river. A king of mirth and joy had sent it to the mysterious flower genie in friendship from his kingdom. The mysterious flower genie was pleased with this gem and gazed at it with fondness.

From the chronicles of the mysterious flower genie from the peninsula of flowers – Empire.

Picture by Damon Veach

Purdie Pointers
Hybridizing a New Variety

By Jim Purdie
Brisbane Australia.

In order to create a new variety of hibiscus, you first must try and choose plants that are good growers with upright growth, not one that falls all over the place. You do not want to produce varieties that have bad growth habits, and if you start with bushes that are healthy growers you stand a chance of passing this trait on to the offspring.

Then you look for blooms that are known winners on the show bench, or at least ones that you know have good form and texture and good color, ruffled & tufted, produce a good number of blooms (no shy bloomers here), and if possible if you have been trying your hand at hybridizing, blooms that are proven mothers or pod parents, as some varieties do not produce seed and are best used as fathers or pollen parents. Some blooms also are very dominant and impose certain traits in all the offspring, so that you end up with a lot of lookalikes, a good example is Herm Geller, which seems to always throw the dark red eye into all of its offspring. When you decide which one you are going to use as the pod parent, you leave that bloom on the bush, and pick the pollen parent [father] and take to the bloom which is going to be hybridized, and dab the pollen from the father onto the stigma pads on top of the staminal column of the mother. The stigma pads should be sticky and attract the pollen when it is dabbed on to them. It is best to do this early in the morning before the sun can dry the stigma pads out, but the pollen sacs must have opened to expose the pollen on the father or you will not be able to apply the pollen. Some people like to hybridize on dull or showery days, and you always have better results in the spring and autumn, rather than in the hot summer days.

Well this is what we find to work here in OZ at any rate. You might have to work to suit your climate in other countries. When you are done with all of this, always tie a tag on the stalk of the bloom with the date of the cross and the names of the parents, mother first & father second, enter these details in an exercise book so you can keep a record of your work, and when you get some seeds enter in how many were in the pod and how many come up when planted. You need all these details if you manage to get a winner and you want to register it at a later date. After a few days, the flower will die and fall off, and if the cross has been successful the calyx at the bottom will start to swell. We always tie a nylon stocking over the calyx to try and stop insects from stinging the calyx and laying grubs inside which eat out all the seeds, and also to catch the seeds when the calyx ripens. If you don’t have something tied over the calyx it can burst open when you don't check it for a few days, and you will lose the seeds on the ground. It can take a couple of months to ripen depending on how warm the weather is. The calyx is green when first done and gradually goes brown and dry and bursts open. You feel if it is opening through the stocking. Some people use plastic fly screen wire to tie over the calyx. They claim the stocking stays wet when you hose or it rains, but we have not struck any trouble. When you get the seeds, we always nick the top of the seed before planting, the seed is shaped like a skull, and we nick the rounded top, just enough to expose the white layer inside. Then we plant them in seed- raising mixture and cover with a plastic bag or in a seed-raising mini-hothouse, and place them in our shade house and wait for them to raise their heads and gradually expose them to the outside air and when they are big enough, plant in individual pots until they are ready to plant in the garden. I always try to plant them in the ground. Otherwise you have to wait too long for them to flower in a pot usually, although Dick Johnson got his to flower the other day in a 3-inch pot. Then when they begin to flower, you see whether your hybridizing has been successful, and probably end up throwing a lot of them in the bin. You have to be hard and not keep anything that is not worth having, or like a variety that is already around. I hope this will help some of the newer growers to have a go at hybridizing. There is nothing like the thrill of seeing a seedling flower for the first time. Just ask Dick. He was over the moon the other day when he saw his seedling flower.

Morning Coffee With Nadeen Pickard

Here is something I found interesting on our web site, and I thought I would share the conversation with you, over coffee, of course.

Don & Christine Macdonald: Don and I are having a serious discussion here. I want to get out of the heat and move back to Canada (I spent a year in Vancouver), and he says no way. He likes the 36 degree celsius heat wave we are having at the moment. Grubs, mites, beetles and fungi are at peak performance and outdoing our computer gremlins. I am afraid I do very little hybridizing and am very new at this nursery business. Don however has been doing it for many years. In our garden we have almost 100 different varieties of hibiscus and room for more, so a foot and a half of any thing new is always welcome. I do a little bit of grafting but mainly just watch and listen to Wally and hope to grow up just like him! I grow, graft and plant and then leave the maintenance to Don. He says prevention is better than a cure and to this end we do several different things only using chemicals when it becomes the final solution. We too do not like to kill our frogs and visiting wildlife. (Even the kangaroos that feed in our garden). We use tea tree mulch around the base and find most insects do not like to live in this medium. We monitor our plants on our daily walk around the gardens and use the essential oils to help prevent pest attack. One type of essential oil is not as effective as combining two or more to produce a satisfactory result without over dosing and/or burning everything, especially those new delicate bud babies. Essential oils that contain chemical compounds known as Citronellel and Citral (Lemon Scented) are considered good insect repellants. Lemon grass, lemon-scented gums and lemon-scented tea tree are our major sources. Lemon-scented tea-tree (Leptospermum petersonii) usually makes the base of our insect repellents and if all else fails it is lovely in a good hot cup of tea. To this we add tea tree oil (Melaleuca alternifolia) which is not a very good insecticide however it is an excellent fungicide. Cypress oil is effective against insects that have a soil born larval stage. Black or river tea tree (Melaleuca bracteata) and prickly leaf tea tree (Melaleuca squamophloia) have mitacidal properties. Sorry about the Latin names, but it is the best way to point out that there are many different species of tea tree oil and as Don says they really should not be classified together as they are all different members of the Myrtecea family. Wally is helping us put our web site together and we have a draft version on line already through Wally's widebaytrader.com\macs-oils. We have new improvements on the way and hope to be up and running with supplies of some of these oils in the very near future. For general interest here are the recipes Don uses:

General insect repellant: 2 mls Lemon scented tea tree oil; 4 mls tea tree oil; 5 mls biodegradable dishwashing detergent; Mix thoroughly and add to 1 litre of water.

Beetle repellant: 2 mls Lemon scented tea tree oil; 2 mls tea tree oil; 2 mls cypress oil; 6 mls biodegradable dishwashing detergent; Mix thoroughly and add to 1 litre of water. Spray over the leaves and along the stems and branches.

Thrip and Mites: 2 mls Lemon scented tea tree oil; 2 mls tea tree oil; 4 mls black tea tree oil or prickly leaf tea tree oil; 8 mls of bio degradable dishwashing detergent. Mix thoroughly and add to 1 litre of water. Spray to lightly wet all surfaces in seven to fourteen day intervals depending on season and severity of pest attack. Please be careful when spraying as the sprays can be phototoxic. This means that they produce the same effect on the leaves as oil on your skin in the hot sun. The best time to spray is late afternoon.

Nadeen, if you can directly supply me with an address I would be more than happy to send you a sample to try on your caterpillars. Some folks here have used it and loved it others have not had any success. It is a repellant not an exterminator and used regularly most bugs do not like the altered taste of the leaves and buds.

In regards to toxicity of the essential oils, we refer to all pure oils as chillies. Use small amounts until you know how potent they are. The danger zones are in 3 main areas: Poison, Allergenic (irritancy), Photo toxicity. Examples of this are: Tea tree oil 100% Pure Essential Oil. Poison S6, Irritancy low, Photo toxicity high. Tea tree oil 0.2% diluted rate, edible, Irritancy negligible, Photo toxicity negligible. Lemon scented tea tree 100% Pure Essential Oil, Non toxic, Irritancy high, photo toxicity high. Lemon scented tea tree 0.4% Light lemon tea, Irritancy very low, Photo toxicity very low. Like all chemicals it is in their pure form that you are most likely to run into problems. In these dilutions only the most allergenic would be affected. All of these oils are considered safe for skin applications at 1%. Economics as well as the end results affected my decisions on ingredients in these recipes.

On the Trail of Harry Goulding
A Walk Through Time in Florida
Hibiscus International Exclusive
By Gloria White

When I first got hooked on the Queen of the Tropics, I got to hear my first Harry Goulding story. Harry Goulding was one of the most prolific hibiscus hybridizers and his number of registered cvs is 479. The late great Harry as I came to know him was not only famous for his flowers. There were dozens of stories about this man if you cared to ask - and I did. I knew I had stumbled onto a gold mine the minute I heard the first Harry story.

Harry & The Bra Size

Harry Goulding was from Punta Gorda, Florida, where he was a bookkeeper and the cook at the Fish camp. Apparently, Harry was even famous with the IRS but that is another tale. Harry helped the local fisherman file their income tax returns and ordered supplies for the town. Carol Vannoorbeeck told me that she heard that Harry walked into the local tavern where the men and their wives used to relax. Harry used to order all kinds of things for the town and shops. Well one day he announced that he knew the bra size of every woman in the place. I can believe that!

Most of Harry’s clients didn’t have much money so he took the money they owed him in drinks. The IRS came to Punta Gorda because something Harry did on income taxes raised a red flag. When he filled out the fisherman’s income tax returns, everybody’s wife was named Mary. The IRS figured after awhile that Harry was harmless.

The Topless Donut Shop

Then Tony Orpi told me the one about the Topless Donut Shop. Harry was in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and one of the guys from the AHS took him to a Topless Donut establishment. Harry was fond of wearing those clips on sunglasses that flip up. Upon entering the shop Harry put his lenses up. I guess, according to Myra Renault, he didn’t want to miss a thing. The very friendly waitress immediately started flirting with them and asked “what would you like?” Harry replied “Give me a pair!” On another visit, Harry and a friend went to the same Donut shop, and Harry sat with his back to the view according to his friend. When the friend questioned Harry why he was sitting with his back to the view, Harry replied, “Well, actually with the mirrors here I have a much better view, and I have a 360 degree view and don’t miss a thing.” At the discussion of the location of the annual AHS Christmas Party the donut shop came up as one of the destinations. When Harry was asked his opinion he replied, “Do either of them serve donuts?”

Weirdo & Other Aborted Greats

Harry was also famous for his flowers as I said before, and Elaine Scobey told me one. She and Russ used to stay with the Gouldings when they were in town for the show that is now named after him. One day, Elaine spotted a plant in the trash that she really liked and asked Harry if she could have it. Harry, of course, gave it to her and she proceeded to call it Weirdo. Well, Weirdo is the great-great-great grandparent of her now famous cv Ed Flory. When Harry did not like a flower or plant he was known to chuck them at the local dump. Elaine also told me that one day while driving around town, Harry saw a hibiscus that took his breath away. He stopped at the house and knocked on the door. He told the owner that he must be a great hibiscus hybridizer. “Hybridizer?” the man said with a question in his voice. “I got this at the dump!” So Harry had thrown out his own flower and then recognized it as wonderful. I wonder if he asked for wood.

Searching for Harry stories wasn’t as hard as I thought. Carol and Myra told me I had to call Wally Neef in Nacomas. I had met Wally at my first hibiscus show, and he and I got on famously. When I called, his wife Zelma answered the telephone, and I identified myself and told her what I wanted. She told me to talk to Wally. Wally remembered me and immediately started with a half dozen Harry stories.

Harry & the Horse

The first Harry story is the one about the horse. Luc Vanoorbeeck had told me he was going to tell me the Harry and the horse story when next we saw each other but here was Wally telling the tale. Wally wanted me to know that Harry was a great storyteller. When Harry’s father first brought the family down from the Carolinas, they had no transportation but on horseback. There was no way across the Peace River but to cross it with the horse. One day as he was going across, Harry noticed that it got too deep and he just grabbed the horse by the tail and swam across the Peace River holding onto the horse by the tail.

Harry & the Winning Show Entry

Since Harry never drove a car, Wally used to take him to the hibiscus shows. Wally would look in Harry’s garden before the show and never saw anything that was spectacular. Wally said Harry always managed to sneak the Show winner in without him seeing the seedling. And Wally told me that Harry always got the flowers to bloom on a Sunday.

Harry & the Flood

Well everyone knows that sometimes adverse weather conditions can sometimes change your life as we learned here in Miami after Hurricane Andrew. Wally tells the story on how Harry got into hibiscus. Harry farmed near the Peace River growing tomatoes and crotons because he liked the color. One day, there was a flood and all the tomatoes died from the salt- water intrusion. Harry noticed that his neighbor grew hibiscus and that they were fine after the flood and that the salt water had not bothered them so that is how Harry got into hibiscus. In 1932, Harry traveled around the state of Florida collecting 12 varieties that he liked and that is how he started his hybridizing with these old cultivars.

Harry Gets an Education

Wally also wants people to know that Harry was the smartest kid at the high school in Punta Gorda. Most people knew how to figure but Harry knew how to read and write. The neighbors felt that anyone with this much talent should go to Georgia Tech so they got the money together to send Harry to Georgia Tech to get him an education. There is a funny story out of his Georgia Tech days. Harry and his friend went to the theater one day. One of the patrons was eating something with a lot of garlic and it was bothering Harry. So Harry told his friend to take off his shoes and that cleared out the garlic eaters.

Harry, the Coroner

One year, Harry who was the most educated man in town got elected Coroner. The sheriff told Harry that a bunch of moonshiners had a still outside of town, and there had been a big fight and someone got killed. So Harry had to go out and perform his duties. He looked down on the victim and said “He’s dead, alright!” and Harry signed the death certificate. Harry held the position of coroner for 22 years. He also held a position on the School Board - for over 20 years.

Harry & the Chicken

Frank Renault told me the story about the chicken. Anyone that knew Harry knew he hated chicken. Once a reporter asked Harry what was the secret to his longevity. Harry told the reporter “I don’t curse, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and I eat lots of chicken.” Of course all these answers were the opposite of the truth.

Harry & the Bootlegger

A bootlegger was expecting a big shipment and wanted Harry to post the guard and he knew Harry was a drinker so to avoid Harry sampling the shipment, he sent along his daughter to chaperone Harry. Well, Harry and the Lady had a great evening together. Instead of sampling the booze, well I can’t say that! This of course happened before Harry got married.

Harry & the Devil

Wally tells how Harry was very religious and used to name his flowers after people in the Bible. Well after awhile, he ran out of names. Harry never cursed but he started naming some of his blooms Devil’s Gold and Great Satan. Wally tells a tale of a judge who refused to judge Harry’s flowers because they were named after the devil. Later on, Harry encountered the same lady judge eating devil’s food cake and deviled eggs in the kitchen. Harry asked the judge, “How about these deviled eggs? Well you like those!” Well, Harry was a gentleman and didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings over the name of a plant.

How the Flower Got its Name

Then Wally tells of the time they were talking about names for his flowers and after a discussion about sex, Harry replied “I haven’t had any lately.” So that is how Not Lately got its name. Harry knew famous people too. In fact he knew Governor Bob Graham and approached him because he wanted to honor his friend by naming a flower after him. Here was this beautiful big purple double bloom and the Governor said, “This is too pretty to be named after me why don’t you name it after my wife?” And that is how Lady Adele got her name. Harry had a flower named Romeo, and Wally asked: “Well if you have Romeo, where is Juliet?” Harry smiled and said that was the one he named Lady Adele.

Elaine told me about a beauty that Harry called Honey Do. When he was asked how he named it, Harry replied that his wife was always saying, “Honey do this and Honey do that.”

Frank told me that everyone thought Harry named Great Satan after the devil but actually Harry named it in honor of the United States of America. The Ayatolla had called the USA the Great Satan so Harry named a lovely cv by that name.

Harry & the Cat With Ten Lives

Wally agrees there was not another like him and there never will be again. Harry had a big compost heap in his yard and anything he did not like went into the heap.

One day a big black cat got hit by a car and Harry threw the cat onto the compost heap. Well, one day this beautiful flower grew out of the compost heap and Harry named it Black Cat. He said he knew that cats had nine lives but this one had ten!

Harry & the Tums

Harry, as funny as he was, suffered greatly from stomach pains and used to take Tums for this ailment. When he worked on his plants, the Tums would fall out of his mouth and all of the sudden his hibiscus were getting bigger.

He figured the calcium in the Tums was helping the flower so he told his friends. Well, one friend tried this out, and he came back the next morning to find all his plants dug up and two raccoons in the trees. They apparently liked the Tums..

Harry and Wally Get Lost

On their way to the Miami show, Wally said Harry would talk up a storm all the way down. Wally once noticed that he had taken the wrong route and all of the sudden Harry got quiet. When Wally asked him why hadn’t he spoken up Harry replied “I thought you would get mad at me.” Wally had to backtrack to get to the show.

Harry and the Practical Joke

Anyone in flowers always knows that the discussion at one time or another turns to blue flowers. Well one day Harry got an idea. He found a way to inject blue ink into a hibiscus and the judges went crazy for the flower. He finally had to tell what he had done.

Harry Goulding passed away over seven years ago, at the age of 83 and he was a real pistol. I am sure sorry I never got to meet the man. I am sure we would have traded some tall tales. And even made some new ones. My husband said I could not tell how Young Dreams got named because believe me, that is not what Harry had in mind originally.

Some of Harry 479 Cvs are: Big Apple, Grey Lady, Harvest Moon, Blue Eyes, Bumble Bee, Many Times, Cloud Dancer, Creole Flame, Esther Denslow, Granny’s Bonnet, Green Hornet, Halo Girl, Hokey Pokee, Honeycomb, Indian Maid, Lady Sue, Lavender Lady, Marie La Vou, Maroon Stars, Mini Skirt, Mystic Charm, Old Spot, Peeping Tom, Red Bomb, Sheba, Silver Moon, Sleeping Single, Stormy Days, Summer Sun, Sunny Moon, and Top Knot.

And the moon came across the horizon golden and full over the enchanted garden. The mysterious flower genie walked in silence bathed by the silvery light. Her garden was asleep at this hour but she recounted all the joys of the days spent in the daytime in her garden. The mysterious flower genie looked up into the sky and smiled at the big harvest moon that shone in the heavens.

From the chronicles of the mysterious flower genie from the peninsula of flowers - Harvest Moon

Picture from Chris Noble of Hibiscus World

(Editorial Note: Frank Renault is currently assembling a Harry Goulding slide show.)

Questions/Answers

WAYNE HALL (Gilbert, Arizona): I have seeds from two different sources. Instructions with one group tell me to nick the seeds before planting. These are the rosa sinensis. The syriacus and moscheutos seeds need to be soaked in hot water for 96 hours before planting. #1 - Why the difference between the two types? #2 - What would happen if I nicked a seed that was suppose to be soaked in hot water?

DICK JOHNSON (Tahiti): Wayne, the basic difference is that H. syriacus and moscheutos have evolved mostly in areas of cold, often freezing, winter temperatures and accordingly have a built in dormancy that needs to be broken, hence the "hot" water soak. This is a protective mechanism, in that if such seed in natural conditions were exposed to a brief warming period, which might otherwise cause germination, the seedling would quickly perish upon a return of winter conditions if winter wasn't really over. Hence, the dormancy which would normally only be broken with conditions prevalent in the growing season, i.e., abundant water and warmer temperature. H. rosa-sinensis, being of tropical origin didn't need such dormancy as a protective measure, since it would grow in tropical condition anytime moisture was adequate, hence, the nicking to permit moisture to enter quicker and more rapidly initiate germination. That's my take on the subject, but don't take this as gospel. Maybe others have a different take on it.

Kathy Marie Kupanoff: What is a “standard?”

Allan Little: The word "standard" when used with hibiscus means the bush grows atop of a tall, elongated stem or trunk. It is possible to grow such a form from a tall stem growing on its own roots, allowing the top to ball up and pruning off all side growths on the tall stem. Generally however they are made by using suitable cultivars grafted onto a tall hardy rootstock. I prefer to use Ruth Wilcox (Albo-Lacinatus) as the rootstock. However Landersii or Pride of Hankins is also suitable.

I find it is no harder to strike 5-6 foot high cuttings than it is to strike 6 inch cuttings. However, the tall rootstock cuttings need some sort of support to hold them upright. Here in Oz, we refer to the tall rootstocks as 'broomsticks'. I generally try to do 3 grafts of the desired cultivar to get a better, quicker, growth on top, but I have done up to 5 grafts on some. The grafting method I use, I think, is called crown or rind graft and involves cutting the bark vertically on top of the 'broomstick', peeling back the bark and inserting scion wood cut to a taper and bound with grafting tape.