All For Gardening
Hibiscus bush - tropical or hardy variety?
In What's this plant

Hibiscus bush – tropical or hardy variety?


Bought this hibiscus bush last late spring, thrived throughout the summer. I put mulch over it. Covered it up with a protection blanket before the first frost.

Is it tropical or hardy? If it’s hardy, did I f up by covering it? I have a hard time with perennials knowing if they survived or not, especially since I can only have potted plants. TIA 🙂

by sabzsy

9 Comments

  1. Wide_Breadfruit_2217

    If it was me I’d split a branch low down and look for green. But even then it might come back from roots. Hard to say until it warms up. But if it has made it you might want to put in ground or bigger pot

  2. trurohouse

    I have a one that grows new from the base every spring.
    Fwiw
    i have it in the ground- it is more protected that way.

    If that is hardy i want one -it is stunning!

  3. Puzzlehead-Bed-333

    This one is tropical, zone 10-12. The hardy ones are pink and red. Look for Starry night as a possibility for you.

    Rose of Sharon is a variant of hibiscus and comes in purple/red, white/red, pink/red but the flowers are a 1/4 to a 1/5 of the size.

    Zone 6, I have them all!

  4. Strangewhine88

    Tropical. But some of the yellow varieties are a bit more cold hardy than others. I’ve had them come back from 20f freezes, but not much lower. This January took out 20+ year old moro blood orange and satsuma. Below freeezing for 3 days, one night at 9f.😭

  5. EducationalFix6597

    It looks tropical to me. Scratch some bark away on the main stem and see if it’s green underneath. I’m in Zone 6a and I bring mine indoors for the winter, but yours may have survived if you had a mild winter. Hardy hibiscus are among the last shrubs to leaf out, so I would assume tropicals left outside would follow suit – ?

  6. Initial_Entrance9548

    It looks like my Sunset hibiscus, or maybe it’s a Hawaiian hibiscus? I’m not sure. Either way, I am Zone 9A and mine dies back and comes back every year. It even survived the snow, although I did take measures to cover it.

  7. maumascia

    They are less likely to survive in a pot, but still might come back if temperatures were mild during winter. They take a long time to come back so be patient before throwing them out.

Write A Comment

Pin