Back in early spring, Mark bought two packets of seeds that were advertised as "rare black, pink and purple hibiscus". He knows that I love plants of any sort and thought these gorgeous blooms would add greatly to the garden. Each packet contained twenty+ seeds and, true to the description, every last seed sprouted within days. I was elated to say the least. Sometimes, it can be a bit tricky to get seeds to sprout especially when the seller is not someone that is personally known. I was pleased, to say the least. Below is the advertised bloom. It is truly amazing!
After the plants grew to about three inches tall, I potted them in individual pots and shared some with Darling Daughter and with my sweet sister-in-laws making sure to describe the blooms that were supposed to soon adorn the plants. They were as excited as I was! From there, the plants grew rapidly and needed to be put in larger pots so...I repotted. The hibiscus plants were now in one-gallon pots. Imagine how much space the nigh on forty remaining plants took. They grew...larger. Well...now. I was running out of pots so twenty-eight hibiscus plants were planted directly in the garden. Here, in the Deep South, hibiscus shrubs can overwinter with just a healthy mound of mulch covering them...plus, I still had over a dozen in pots.
Imagine my surprise when several of the potted plants started setting buds. A mere three months after planting the seeds, I was to have blooms on my "rare black, pink and purple" hibiscus! The plants were guarded carefully so the Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers would not munch the buds. (Those critters will eat anything and everything!) The plants were carefully watered and moved around to give them optimal lighting. The plants were watched with great expectations! Below is the bloom I got!
Then...this morning...one gorgeous six-inch bloom opened to greet the morning sun! Oh, happy day! Except...wait! I checked the saved seed pouch and it still said "rare black, pink and purple" hibiscus. Uh..well..umm...no. No, no, NO! There was not the combination of colors mentioned. While the flower was stunning and I love it, it was not black, pink and purple. Not even close. It was white. WHITE!!! Granted it has a deep red throat, the petals are WHITE! SNOW WHITE! The bloom is white! Alrighty, then. My plans for a midnight-colored garden were abruptly altered. My only idea is to have these hibiscuses as stars? Hopefully, some of the other shrubs will have colors as advertised but, for now, I have white. Lovely...but not what was sold. Most likely, some of the other plants will produce the lovely, colored bloom as advertised. If not, I am not disappointed at all since every seed sprouted and turned into healthy plants. Stray, "throwback" plants are not unheard of and the seller had a great return policy "if not satisfied". Will I return or complain? Nope. I am tickled pink with the hibiscus plants with whatever color they bloom. Just because something is different than what is expected, when searching for beauty, there is no reason to be ugly. I will simply look forward to seeing the blooms and continue sharing the plants no matter what color! Happiness is how you look at things not in what you think they should be.
