I purchased this beautiful flower thinking it was the perennial variety. What is the best indoor care for this plant, type of soil, food, frequency of watering? How late can I leave it outside (up to what temperature). What kind of soil and sunshine will it need when planted outside in the spring?
Thank you Eric. You say it will be hardy here in Cleveland. Did you mean indoors and outdoors? Any other tips?
I mean hardy as in planted outdoors through the winter. I see that plant listed as Hibiscus moscheutos 'Luna' (also 'Luna Blush', 'Luna Red'.) Hibiscus moscheutos is actually native to Ohio and overwinters in USDA Zone 5. 'Luna' is smaller than the species, but will still grow rather big and has huge flowers.
it will die back in the winter any of the hardy hibiscus do that even here in florida. my luna did die totally because we donot get the cold others do and it takes forever to break dormancy and start growing and with all the rain we just got it just did not make it. the texas star did come back but lost two different hardy hibiscus the luna and a h moscheutos . i think i will stick to the tropical hibiscus here and do have one rose of sharon growing good. the hardy hibiscus are just too fussy here they would probably do better in north florida than they do here. the luna i had was a dwarf plant only got about 3 feet but the bloom was the same size as any other h.moscheutos. the other one i had was a seedling so was not a named variety.
To Mikeinfla, Thank you for your input. Are the luna and the hibiscus moscheutos two different plants? That may account for the difference in survival stated by Eric. He also said that that plant is native to Ohio. Right now I'm just enjoying it on the porch. Not sure yet if I will just take it indoors for the winter. The blooms are bright orange and they are gorgeous. I am still interested in a light pink perennial hibiscus, but I haven't seen any for sale around here. Robin
if it is a hardy hibiscus than it is a h. moscheutos it comes in white pink and red if you have an orange bloom than perhaps you have may have a tropical hibiscus and yes the luna hardy hibiscus is also a h. moscheutos its just a named variety. it may be possible that there is a tropical hibiscus named luna if it was a luna hardy hibiscus it would have had a tag and they are red single flowers good sized are the leaves shiny ? a pic of the plant may also help but if it is tropical than you would deffenately have to take it in for the winter
Thanks again for your input. I should have asked for a plant description. It was a spur of the moment purchase and I didn't realize it didn't have the usual instructions. As it is definitely orange, it must be the tropical variety as you have said.
