Hibiscus

I have a pretty scraggly indoor Hibiscus. I'm not sure if it's name is Candy or Sweet Pea. Yes, I name plants. I got two plants, one one summer, the other the following. They were rescues from the supermarket. The first, Sweet Pea has red flowers. Candy has gold. At the time, I had them in a window that recieved full sun year round. They thrived. This is about 5-6 years ago now.

Then, I moved into the Dungeon. It was a dark apartment, which was complicated by the fact that I was on the ground floor and paranoid about leaving my blinds open. So, they got no sun, unless I put them outside. Way outside, because of the balcony above me. And I didn't put an ultraviolet light on them, just a regular incadecent. I lost one. I'm not sure which.

Then I moved into the previous place, the TownHouse. Nice place, but the sunny side was the backyard and that was practically a communal lot. That and I didn't trust the lawncare workers to be careful of my potted plants. So, my poor remaining plant sat inside with possibly the blinds cracked. No flowers, no recovery. Since everyone was pretty much forced to move out this year, the neighbors thinned out. So, I put it out for a day of sun in May. Horrors! It came in with some sucker bug and lost a lot of leaves! It perked up some when I put it next to the aquarium in the quarantine corner. The flourencent helped.

Then I move to the Little Blue House. The back porch gets strong morning sun into late afternoon. The Hibiscus sits at the sliding glass door to the deck and since it's so private, I keep the curtains open. So, a weekend ago or so, I put my Hibiscus out. I know it loves sun. And I sunburned a couple leaves. But there is a lot of new growth. So, I put it out again last weekend. The old leaves are now bleeched white, but it is pushing a lot of new growth. *sigh* I'm going to put a plant light in that corner over the winter.

Pictures will follow. Have to charge batteries first.


*One the reasons I didn't like the blinds open, is because I leave for work at o'dark thirty in the morning.