{3 Hibiscus Varieties 'KONA' - 'CONFEDERATE ROSE' and a RED variegated}

In-between my silver Giovanni Raspini gifts, I love to show you what's blooming in our garden. 

First let me introduce you to this exotic beauty: Hibiscus 'KONA' which is available from Logee's in Connecticut as Hibiscus 'Kona' (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis hybrid). We have lots of special plants from them, just check them out.

Bring a touch of the tropics into your life with this exotic cultivar from Logee's. Large, rich fully double blossoms, resembling puffy crepe paper, adorn this vigorous grower.

This one shows a visiting insect...

This is where the two planters with the Kona hibiscus are; behind our gazebo on the small stone patio.

To the left of the gazebo, facing the back of our house.

Here is another planter with a variegated leaf Hibiscus in a flamboyant Red.

We did bring a cutting home from the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and voilà:

Pieter's hand for comparison, though it is by far not as large as the Kona variety.

It was on Friday, September 5, of 1997 that we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We had checked in early at 2:00 PM and were inside in time for the heavy weather in relation to Hurricane Erica near Puerto Rico. On Saturday morning at 4:00 AM we sat in our beds with the pillows propped up and the special curtains (triple!) closed to keep the noise of the raging winds with heavy rain out of earshot. We watched the funeral of Princess Diana... (she died on August 31). A day we never will forget. Our vacation was not planned at the right moment and being high in the tower with a huge balcony on two sides, did not do us any good!

But their gardens were lush and the hibiscus cutting flourished at our home; that made up for the heavy weather...

In our adjacent wood garden we also have since one decade this Hibiscus mutabilis 'Plena' also called: Confederate Rose. We obtained this from  Woodlanders in South Carolina. Another great nursery that has a huge variety and is in business for a very long period already.

This photo is from October 31, 2000. They are not yet blooming but I wanted to show it today.

Hibiscus mutabilis 'Plena' is a wonderful big mulit-stem deciduous shrub with leaves like a cotton plant and large double peony-like showy flowers in the fall that open white and change to pink as the day goes on. Freezes back in winter but does re-sprout here in the south.

Hibiscus mutabilis 'Plena'