ÃÛÌÒÁµÈË

How to Grow Hibiscus

A dinner plate sized Lady Baltimore Pink Hibiscus in the garden.

A Lady Baltimore Pink Hibiscus.

Photo Credit
Bryan Pollard/Shutterstock
Botanical Name
Hibiscus syriacus, H. moscheutos, H. coccineus
Plant Type
Shrubs and Bushe
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Part Sun
Soil pH
Slightly Acidic to Neutral
Bloom Time
Summer
Fall
Flower Color
Blue
Multicolor
Pink
Purple
Red
White
Hardiness Zone
5
6
7
8
9

Also receive the ÃÛÌÒÁµÈË Daily newsletter including gardening tips, weather, astronomical events, and more.

No content available.

Planting, Growing, and Pruning Hibiscus

Catherine Boeckmann

With huge, colorful dinner-plate size flowers, perennial hibiscus plants add a bold, tropical effect to the garden. They are also highly attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds! Here’s how to plant, grow, and care for hibiscus flowers.

About Hibiscus

There are many types of hibiscus. This growing guide covers perennial hibiscus grown for their strikingly beautiful, big, disc-shaped, hollyhock-like flowers that can measure up to 12 inches across!

Perennial hibiscus can grow up to eight feet tall, but dwarf varieties are only two to three feet tall. 

Hibiscus are members of the mallow family, which has over of annuals, perennials, trees, and shrubs.

Read Next

Planting

When to Plant Hibiscus

Hibiscus can be purchased as young plants from nurseries and are best planted in the spring. Or, they can be rooted from a cutting in the spring.

If you wish to grow hibiscus from seed, sow indoors 12 weeks before the last spring frost date. Soak seeds in very warm water for one hour before sowing. Alternatively, seeds can be sown outdoors after the last expected frost date.

Choosing and Preparing a Planting Site

  • Choose a site that gets full sun; they’ll grow in partial sun but will not flower as well.
  • Hibiscus prefers well-draining soil with plenty of organic matter and neutral to slightly acidic soil.
  • To avoid breakage of the long stems, plant hibiscus where they won’t be exposed to strong winds.

How to Plant Hibiscus

  • Plant potted hibiscus plants so that their stems are just at the soil surface.
  • To root a cutting in the spring, cut off a branch 5 to 6 inches long and strip off lower leaves. Plant the cutting in a pot with a mix of three parts sand and one part peat. Roots should form within a few weeks. Transplant the cutting from the pot into the ground.
  • The hibiscus species that die back each year can be spaced 2 to 3 feet apart. Consider the potential height and width (up to 12 feet and 10 feet, respectively) of a mature plant before planting.
  • Water the plants well at the time of planting.

Growing

How to Care for Hibiscus Shrubs

  • Hibiscus needs frequent watering, especially when young and new. When watering, do so deeply and thoroughly, drenching the plant.
  • Mulch around the plant to retain moisture and to provide winter protection for the roots.
  • To encourage rebloom, either remove the spent flowers before they form seed heads or prune plants back by one-third after a flush of bloom is finished.
  • Perennial hibiscus will freeze back to the ground each winter; cut old stems to the ground.
  • Hibiscus blooms on new wood (this year’s growth), so pruning is best done in the spring.
  • In early spring, remove dead stems from established plants and apply a balanced fertilizer.
  • Over the growing season, hibiscus can benefit from a fertilizer that is high in potassium, medium to medium-high in nitrogen, and low in phosphorus, as the plant can be sensitive to phosphorus.
  • Mature plants can be divided in the spring, not fall.

Types

Scarlet Swamp Hibiscus (H. coccineus): This plant, also known as Texas Star, has 5-petaled, brilliant-red flowers. It grows to a height of seven feet each growing season, dies back to the ground every winter, and resprouts in spring.

Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos): This is the classic dinner-plate hibiscus due to the large size of its flowers. These large, fast-growing plants bloom from August to October, and each plant may flaunt several 10 to 12-inch wide flowers at once. A few of the many popular cultivars are:

  • ‘Anne Arundel’ has pink flowers, nine inches in diameter, on plants five feet tall.
  • ‘Kopper King’ has light pink to white flowers with a burgundy center, 12 inches in diameter, with coppery red deeply cut leaves.
  • ‘Lady Baltimore’ is a popular old variety with pink flowers and red centers on five-foot-tall plants.
  • ‘Lord Baltimore’ is another old variety with red flowers on five-foot-tall plants.

 

Gardening Products

Wit and Wisdom

  • The plant has been used to soothe headaches, aching limbs, coughs, and inflammations. 
  • Hibiscus tea is made from parts of a different type of hibiscus, Hibiscus sabdariffa—also known as Roselle or Florida Cranberry. It’s native to West Africa but is now grown across Central America, the Caribbean, and even Florida.
  • In Victorian times, giving a hibiscus blossom to a person meant that the giver acknowledged the receiver’s delicate beauty. Learn more about the language of flowers.
  • The yellow hibiscus is the state flower of Hawaii.

Pests/Diseases

Insect pests of hibiscus include aphids, whiteflies, and Japanese beetles. 

Clean up all plant debris to avoid fungal diseases which can cause leaf spots. Don’t crowd plants, and keep mulch from touching the stems to avoid blight. 

Shrubs and Trees
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s ÃÛÌÒÁµÈË found each other. She leads digital content for the ÃÛÌÒÁµÈË website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
 

More Like This

Comments

Terry GIBSON (not verified)

5 years 2 months ago

I can't remember where I got my hibiscus plants, but have had them for about 4 years. I bring them inside in winter (zone 5), cut them back and take them outside in the spring. They look like the pictures in the article...so what zones do the tropicals pictured in the article survive? Would like to plant them in a permanent location.
Thanks

Jeremy Withrington (not verified)

5 years 3 months ago

Having been gardening for over forty years I think I know how to plant shrubs. A few years ago I planted hibiscus in two different gardens. Both seem to be doing very well except that both plants are no longer upright. One I have straightened up using ropes. A friend of mine moved to a house which has a hibiscus growing in the garden. The hibiscus looks as though it is trying to climb out of the soil and has to be tied up for support.
What is it about hibiscus?

Ethel (not verified)

5 years 6 months ago

My Hibiscus is starting their spring growth.How do i trim them to form a less wide and more taller plant.It really gets wide and the limbs lean on the ground and sometimes snap off.This happens especially after a hard rain.Thank you Ethel

Jacqueline Straney (not verified)

5 years 7 months ago

We need to know if Swamp Rose is the type that forms the buds used to make the tea from. Attempting to grow Hibiscus for the first time we need all information we can get. Please do reply E-mail address is above under my name. Thank you in advance. JS

PRAMOD SHAH (not verified)

6 years 2 months ago

I HAVE PLANTED THIS PLANT OUT DOOR.
HOW TO TAKE CARE IN WINTER?

Anthony J Carrino (not verified)

6 years 2 months ago

My red Hibiscus leaves look as if something is eating them as the leaves have almost a mesh like appearance over the past month. What's up?

There are a few pests that could be causing this sort of damage. The most common is undoubtedly the Japanese beetle, though their population tends to peak in early to mid-summer. They are tough to beat, but they should begin dying off as fall approaches. In any case, look into purchasing a horticultural oil or neem oil, both of which will be effective against most insect pests. Follow the instructions on the packaging; you will likely need to reapply the oils every few days. 

George Urbanus (not verified)

6 years 3 months ago

I received a potted Hibiscus a few months ago. it had one flower in it, and it has not flowered
since. What do I do wrong. Please give me some advice

There are several reasons why a potted hibiscus might not be flowering. First, the plant needs to be in full Sun, no shade. Also, container plants need some supplemental fertilizer (food) because watering a container plant washes out nutrients. But do NOT overfertilize with nitrogen (which causes lush leafy foliage but at the expense of blooms).

grace Klepaski (not verified)

6 years 3 months ago

I order hibiscus roots in December. Received the roots in May. I pot planted them end of May due to the amount of heavy rain we had. The leaves had holes so I removed some leaves. I put plant food to help them bloom. To date flowers have not bloomed. Can you tell me what I am doing wrong Thank you.