They thrive in full sun and can only endure the winter outside in zones 10–12. They are excellent container plants in milder climates and are occasionally sold as “standards, or miniature hibiscus” trees. In zones 4 to 9, perennial hibiscus plants can endure the winter.
Hibiscus plants—can they be left outside?
You recently purchased a tropical hibiscus, and now that fall has here and winter is quickly approaching, you’re not sure what to do with it. Fear not, I’ve been there! I used to bring my favorite hibiscus inside and outside every year when I was living in Iowa. You can succeed if I can. How? Read on!
Keep Hibiscus Indoors During the Winter First off, you’ll need to move your hibiscus indoors to protect it over the winter if you reside in a region where temperatures often dip below 50F (10C). Being tropical plants, they can’t withstand exposure to below-freezing conditions. (However, a hardy hibiscus, which you may find in the perennials area of your neighborhood garden center, can survive the winter outdoors. It will enter dormancy in fall, rest throughout the winter, and then begin to grow again in the late spring, with flowers appearing in the summer.
Before winter, learn how to bring hibiscus indoors. The good news is that bringing your tropical hibiscus indoors before winter is rather simple. Simply carry out these easy steps.
First, trim the stems of your tropical hibiscus. Take out up to 25% of the new growth. You won’t have to spend much time cleaning up a lot of yellow, fallen leaves by taking this simple step (this naturally happens as a result of shock when the plant goes from indoors to out). Even if there will still be some falling leaves, there is no need for alarm. It’s entirely normal.
After cutting back your hibiscus, you can move the entire pot inside if it is potted. Dig up your plant if it has been growing in the ground, then put it in a container. Use potting soil specifically designed for container plants. Additionally, avoid using garden soil at all costs. While garden soil works well for growing plants outside, it doesn’t drain well indoors. It may also encourage pests to enter by hitchhiking.
Optional: Speaking of pests, if you’d like to deter them from entering your home, give your hibiscus a prophylactic treatment or two. Insecticidal soap and neem oil are popular sprays that are safe to use on a plant you are bringing indoors. Find out more about protecting tropical plants before winter.
Indoor Winter Hibiscus Care The most important thing to understand about hibiscus plant care is that it prefers light. In actuality, it likes light, not just a lot of it. Because of this, your plant will thrive at a prominent location inside your house. Have a large, bright window? Bingo! Another option is a sizable patio door. not enough daylight? You’re in luck since hibiscus will thrive in the wintertime when grown under a shop or plant light. (Tip: An effective, traditional store light will do; there’s no need to spend a lot of money on a fancy, pricey plant light. I’ve always used that.) Your hibiscus will be happy in the winter if you give it more light.
When the top inch or two of the potting mix feels dry to the touch, water your hibiscus (just like you would any other houseplant). I’ve always discovered, and I’m willing to bet you will as well, that hibiscus demand a lot less water indoors throughout the winter than they did when you were growing your plant outdoors. Thankfully, that makes maintaining it simpler! I ended up watering my Tropic Escape hibiscus once a week or so when I brought it indoors for the winter. However, a number of elements, such as how hot or cold your home is, the humidity levels, the size of your hibiscus, the size of its pot, the type of potting mix, etc., will affect the precise frequency you’ll be watering.
Note: During the winter, keep your hibiscus away from both warm and cold drafts. This contains vents for heating. Hot (or cold) air bursts can create brown or fading foliage.
More positive news You shouldn’t stress over it. Let your hibiscus enjoy a peaceful winter’s nap. You can wait until spring, around March, when the days (finally!) start to get longer.
Seasonal Flowering Although I detest to say it, don’t count on flowers during the winter. Since your plant is dormant and may not have enough light to flower unless it is located in an extremely sunny area, you probably won’t see many. My plant only produced three or four blossoms each winter while I maintained it in my dining room in Iowa, a few feet from a north-facing bay window.
By the way, don’t worry if your plant does produce buds but you see that they are falling off. This also makes sense. In response to stress, hibiscus are infamous for losing their flower buds (such as being grown inside).
Thus, a little forethought, a sunny location, and routine watering are all that are required to bring your tropical hibiscus inside for the winter.
Is hibiscus grown inside or outside?
As a houseplant, hibiscus. Tropical, sun-loving hibiscus bushes produce large, beautiful flowers with a recognizable, conspicuous stamen. To cultivate them, you don’t have to reside in Florida or California. They can be grown outdoors in temperate climates during the summer and enjoyed as houseplants inside during the winter.
Where should hibiscus plants be planted?
Hardy Be patient because hibiscus takes a while to bloom in cold springs or in the early summer. Hardy Hibiscus thrives in direct sunlight. Although they will still grow, their ability to expand and flower will be compromised. Hibiscus may require shade during the hottest part of the day if you are in a location with particularly hot summers. Planting hibiscus should be done alongside or behind perennial flower beds.
In the winter, can I leave a potted hibiscus outside?
I want to keep my two hibiscus plants in huge pots over the winter. Since the weather has not been particularly chilly, I now have them in my garage. Are they safe in my basement? There is not a lot of light. Or would taking them up to the second floor near a window be preferable? Should I reduce them?
A. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, sometimes known as a tropical or Chinese hibiscus, cannot survive the winter in our region and must be kept indoors. Your hibiscus should be overwintered in a greenhouse or bright sunroom with a constant daily temperature of 65 to 75 degrees. In that case, it will likely keep most of its foliage and continue to bloom. If you can provide the Chinese hibiscus with the extremely intense light it needs to thrive and blossom indoors, it makes a beautiful houseplant. The ideal window is one that faces west or south and receives five to six hours a day of direct sunlight.
You may maintain the life of your hibiscus through the winter even in less than perfect circumstances. It works nicely in a setting that is cool (50 to 60 degrees), such as an unheated, attached garage where it can get some light. When you place the hibiscus in this position, it will lose all of its flower buds and the majority of its leaves. The plant should survive the winter, though, and will begin to leaf out in the spring when the weather warms up and you can put it back outside. Make sure the site you chose for overwintering won’t get below 50 degrees. Much lower temperatures have the potential to harm tropical vegetation.
To survive the winter, it’s vital to hydrate properly—but not excessively. Chinese hibiscus needs soil that is consistently moist, but it should drain effectively to prevent a situation where the soil is constantly wet. On the other hand, you don’t want the soil to become so dry that your hibiscus begins to wilt. There must be drainage holes in the pot it is growing in. The quantity of indoor sunlight the plant receives, the size of the container it is placed in, the temperature, and the relative humidity in your home all affect how frequently you water. You won’t need to water it as frequently as you did when it was outdoors vigorously growing and blooming.
It will require more frequent watering than a plant overwintering in a darker, cooler area if you have a highly sunny indoor environment where the plant will continue to develop and bloom. When the soil feels dry, moisten it by probing two or three inches down. Until water drains from the pot’s bottom openings, water is poured from the pot’s top. Remove any extra water from the saucer to prevent the plant from standing in it.
If your hibiscus does thrive and bloom throughout the winter in a warm, sunny location, fertilize once a month with a balanced, water-soluble fertilizer like 20-20-20. Always adhere to label instructions. More fertilization does not always equal greater results. Do not fertilize a plant that is spending the winter in a dark, cool garage until you move it outside in the spring.
Just before relocating your hibiscus outside for the summer, prune it. This will promote a bushy, thick plant. Due to the lower light levels indoors during its winter hibernation, it might have become leggier. Your hibiscus will grow healthier and have a more attractive form even though pruning will lose flower buds and postpone blossoming. The plant will grow new buds, and it will bloom like it did this summer.
When all threat of frost has passed in the spring, right around Memorial Day, you can transplant your Chinese hibiscus outside. But don’t immediately leave it out in the hot heat. Over the course of seven to ten days, gradually acclimatize it to brighter sun. Place it in a protected area, such a porch or the filtered shade of a tree. Increase the amount of time it spends in the sun each day until it is fully exposed.
Will my hibiscus survive the winter indoors?
When kept indoors for the winter, even in a sunny area, potted hibiscus lose leaves and become infected with little white pests, despite the fact that they thrive in the summer on my sunny deck. Each summer, they bounce back, but how can I ensure that they survive the winter?
Answer:
When the outside and inside temperatures are the same, bring your hibiscus indoors. This lessens the shock of being moved on the plant. Spray it with a horticultural oil or soap before bringing it inside to get rid of hitchhiker insects. If necessary, prune it just enough to get it inside, but save the serious trimming for the first few weeks of spring.
Hibiscus should be kept indoors in good light with some regular exposure to sunshine. During the winter, when it sleeps a little bit, it prefers room temperatures that are cooler than usual—more like 55 degrees. During the wintertime period of rest, avoid fertilizing. Sparingly water the potting mix, but make sure to prevent it from drying out completely. Keep in mind that heat from indoors dries soil quickly.
Can hibiscus blossom in containers?
The spring is the ideal season to plant hibiscus in containers. You might want to think about keeping your tropical Hibiscus in a container all year if you intend to bring it inside for the winter. It can be difficult to go from the ground to the pot. The plant will experience less stress and will find it simpler to adjust to indoor life after a summer spent outdoors if it is grown in a container all year.
Most planters work well with hibiscus. Plastic is a wonderful choice because it is lightweight, and since the plant will probably get quite large, using a plastic container as its home may make it simpler to transfer the plant. However, Hibiscus also looks great if you favor the style of terracotta and porcelain. Hibiscus can grow in any container as long as it has drainage holes and is a few inches bigger than the root ball.
Hibiscus flowers’ lifespan is how long?
Although numerous new hybrids have been developed that now stay longer, even up to three days, the hibiscus flower still only lasts one day. Don’t take this negatively; many plants only bloom once a year for two or three weeks, after which you have to wait an entire year for them to blossom again.
Do hibiscus bloom each year?
I’ve addressed some of the most frequent queries about hibiscus maintenance in this article. Please include it in the comments area below if yours isn’t on the list.
Are hibiscus easy to grow?
Once you know what they require in terms of temperature, water, and sunlight, hibiscus are simple to grow. They only need a little attention when you give them the right surroundings.
Do hibiscus bloom all year?
Varieties of tropical hibiscus can bloom all year long. However, in the winter when it is colder and there is less light, they typically go into full or semi-dormancy. Cold-resistant varieties only bloom from mid- to late-summer.
Do hibiscus plants come back every year?
In the appropriate growth zone, cold-hardy hibiscus plants do really hibernate and reemerge in the spring each year. Tropical variants are typically cultivated as annuals or kept as houseplants, though they will remain evergreen in warm areas.
How big does a hibiscus tree get?
The size of a hibiscus tree totally depends on the variety. While many cold-hardy species vary between 4-6′, some tropical varieties can approach 10′.
The beautiful, vibrant blossoms of a hibiscus can liven up your yard or house when given the correct care. You can maintain the health of yours and take pleasure in the blossoms year after year by using these growing suggestions.
My Winter Houseplant Care eBook is for you if you want to learn how to keep your favorite plant alive during the chilly and gloomy months. It will provide you with all the knowledge you need to maintain healthy indoor plants all year long. Get your copy right away!
Does hibiscus prefer shade or the sun?
In full sun, hibiscus plants thrive. Hibiscus from the tropics needs moist yet draining soil. The optimal conditions for perennial hibiscus are moist soil that never totally dries out (this type can handle a bit more water than tropical hibiscus).
How cold must it be for hibiscus?
The ideal temperature range for hibiscus is 60–85 °F. Most growth and flowering will end at 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and flower size and shape will be altered. Make sure to bring your plant indoors before the first fall frost because a freeze will make it die. Extreme heat is also quite harmful to hibiscus.