Hibiscus

I have two hibiscus plants in my conservatory – both gifts some years ago from friends as I recall. I’ve had these for nearly ten years, and they’ve accompanied me to the house I am now living in, through several moves and changes of area. Until five years ago I lived in the Brighton area for fifteen years, and the hibiscus plants lived with me there. When we moved to east Devon they duly came too, and despite suffering some shock from the move and being packed into a van for several hours, they survived and took their place in the new (temporary) home. A few moves later they are still with me, and they are so beautiful and have gone through so much, that I thought I would pen a Blog to tell you about them.

Hibiscus aren’t the easiest plants to grow, and of course in this country they need to be kept indoors. In more temperate Mediterranean and semi tropical climates they are a thriving bushy outdoor plant. When the first one – the one with red flowers – arrived, I had no experience of them, so just cared for it by what felt right. For a while it was living next to the fireplace in my house in Denton, and did OK there although it didn’t produce many flowers. Then a year or so later the other one with orange-yellow flowers arrived, and I put that the other side of the fireplace. It did OK. Again it didn’t flower much but it was growing and seemed reasonably happy. And really, if you have hibiscus, you want to encourage them to flower – the flowers are so superb – large and trumpet-shaped in glowing exotic colours. They really are exquisite.

After a year or so it became clear that the yellow hibiscus needed something that I wasn’t giving it. It started to look unhappy, and despite regular watering and feeding, began to go downhill. I remember re-potting it, and it bucked up a little after the shock of being moved into a new pot, but still wasn’t thriving. The red one was fine and I re-potted that the same spring. Around that time I had a re-arrangement in my lounge, and I decided to move the yellow hibiscus into the conservatory, and I put it on the wide windowsill. It bucked up considerably with the extra light, and seemed a lot happier but still no flowers. Then a while later I also moved the red hibiscus onto the conservatory windowsill, near the yellow one. Well, what a difference! As soon as I put these two plants together they both began to thrive, both producing many flowers, one after another, for the first time ever. It seemed almost as though they were trying to outdo each other in how many flowers they could make – it was quite astonishing! Now you may think that the extra light in the conservatory was the key factor here, and it certainly played a part. But it’s been clear that just putting these two plants together has made an enormous difference to their ability to thrive, as I later realised. They were probably lonely and needed each other, bless them.

Now, when we moved into the cottage I lived in before this one, there was a downturn in the health and happiness of both the hibiscus. And it wasn’t just the fact that we found ourselves living in a very cold damp house, and they were as uncomfortable and chilly there as I was. It was also the fact that we didn’t have enough windowsill space for them to be together – they were both in the kitchen, but on adjacent windowsills about 6 feet apart. They both started to go downhill at the same time, and I really thought I was going to lose them at one point. I gave them lots of TLC and tried everything, but they were both clearly unhappy. Then a close friend who was staying at the time suggested I increase their water supply and put them together. I did this and slowly but surely they started to perk up and gradually regained their health, together. They needed more water – an amazing amount actually - and they also needed to be near each other.

Now we arrived at my current house in south Devon nearly three years ago, and the hibiscus haven’t looked back (and neither have I actually!). They’ve been re-potted twice and grown so much – the red one vertically, and the yellow one mostly horizontally - that they had to be clipped back a couple of times. They clearly love it here, have a nice conservatory windowsill to sit on together, and have been dazzling me, both this summer and last, with their constant array of flowers. So much so that last summer I had a quiet word with them and told them not to deplete themselves too much as they still needed strength to grow leaves! I was concerned as leaves were falling off but they were both still going for it with the flowers! However, at the end of last summer they eventually stopped flowering and in due course made new leaves, much to my relief.

Amazing to think that plants have feelings but that appears to be the case. Apart, these plants survived, but didn’t really thrive. They only really started happily growing and flowering off the charts when I put them together. They are living beings of course, and have an intelligence of their own, so why wouldn’t they have feelings too? It makes you realise the sacrifice that plants make when they give their lives to enable us to eat – I feel it must be an agreement they have made with mankind in order that we can survive by eating healthy foods like fresh vegetables, salads and fruit. But I digress – that’s another story!

I see my two hibiscus plants, as I see many things, as a metaphor for life. If we stand together we can achieve so much more, and indeed survive and thrive so much better than if we are alone. With others, our lives are more colourful and lively, as well as providing love and companionship – which all beings need. Alone, we are more vulnerable, and when we have to shoulder difficult times on our own, it can get too much and pull us down. Together with like-minded people, the burdens of life are halved, and if we cooperate and work together, everyone benefits. May we all find the right communities, environments, partners and friends to help us grow and thrive on our journey through this amazing Life On Planet Earth, like my hibiscus!

©Sheila Whittaker 3.9.16