[Boomer]

I know my question does not belong in this thread, but it seemed silly to start a new one even though my hibiscus is in Ohio and is not freezing at all. But this seems like a thread where people know about hibiscus so I will ask anyway.

I was given one as a gift a couple of months ago. I cut the bottom out of the pot and planted it in the pot. This was to make it a little easier to bring inside in winter if it makes it. I planted it in front of a mass of ornamental grasses.

It was doing fine, but then the ornamental grasses started to pick on the hibiscus. (Karly Rose is the ornamental grass - a great beauty that gets around 3 feet tall and keeps its rosey pink plumes for a very long time.) I like to mass ornamental grasses and then just step back. And that hot color of the hibiscus with 5 Karly Rose ornamentals singing backup was pretty gorgeous as I looked out the window in the morning when the sun was just starting to hit the show at the perfect angle.

The rain here has been decent this year. And Karly Rose got big fast. And then started to loom a little over the hibiscus. The hibiscus was a newcomer to the bed and could not catch up. Karly Rose loomed and loomed, more each day it seemed, and was starting to block out the sun.

So thinking I was coming to the rescue, I moved the hibiscus. Took it out of the pot to free it a little. Gave it a spot of its own. Sun all to itself. Knockout Roses singing backup this time. But far enough away. And my Felco2 pruners can keep those Knockouts under control. I can't control Karly Rose again until spring when I give away big hunks that I dig out of each plant.

Well, I have never believed that old saying, "No good deed goes unpunished." But in this case, that seems to be what's going on. The hibiscus is pouting. Making yellow leaves. I know about sticking my finger in the dirt to check to see if water is really needed, but I am having a hard time controlling the rain.

This hibiscus should be over the move by now. But it is still behaving badly. Does it miss its pot? It is getting sun from the east now and is protected from the west.

I can tend to be like the Red Queen when I garden and if a plant gives me too much aggravation, I just yell, "Off with its head."

But this plant was a gift from a dear friend. I want to save this plant.

And I know that some may be thinking, "Hellooooo, Boomer, you idiot, you are in Ohio trying to grow a hibiscus."

But the Ohio Valley can match Florida with heat and humidity this time of year. So the hibiscus should be thinking it is in Florida. (Maybe I will go out and tell it that this morning. That's dishonest though, even if it is for its own good.)

Is there a hibiscus doctor in the house?

Boomer