Photo/Illustration: Michelle Gervais
OK, let’s kick off a few days of combos from Central Park’s Conservatory Garden in New York City with this stunner. I’m guessing on a few of the plant names this week, so chime in if you can ID something I can’t or if I get something wrong. This one includes a cream-edged plectranthus (Plectranthus cv., USDA Hardiness Zone 11), orange-flowered Mexican firebush (Hamelia patens, Zones 9-11), and a dark and dramatic tripocal hibiscus (Hibiscus acetosella cv., Zones 10-11). Can we say dreamy?
Photo/Illustration: Michelle Gervais
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Comments
i had the same plectranthus in my missouri garden last year and loved it. trying to overwinter it indoors. the hibiscus looks like the one called maple sugar. i grew that last year also and will certainly add it to my 2011 garden. makes quite an impact with size, leaf shape and dramatic color. marge
This is a beautiful combination. I have grown Hibiscus acetosella for several years; in my garden (zone 4, short summer) it gets to about three feet but I've seen it grow to five feet tall even here in the upper midwest. I've seen several named cultivars at the nursery but they look pretty much the same. Cuttings root easily in a vase of water, and carried over the winter on a sunny sill, will bloom but the deep burgundy flowers of classic hibiscus form last only a few hours. It is a superb foliage plant for garden or containers.
I'm making a 'note to self' to try the hibiscus and Mexican firebush in containers this summer. Great color.
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