Garden
How to Grow Hardy Hibiscus—Even in Cold Climates
- When you think of Hibiscus flowers, what usually comes to mind are tropical landscapes… Lush bushes dotted with big, showy blooms in beautiful shades of red, pink, purple, or white, with hummingbirds and butterflies flocking to them in droves. It’s every gardener’s dream!
- But what if you don’t live in a region that gets warm weather year-round? After all, you’re most likely thinking of a plant called Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, which is a tropical species that unfortunately doesn’t tolerate the cold.
- Luckily, this doesn’t mean you have to go without. Although the genus Hibiscus mostly likes the heat, cold-hardy Hibiscus plants do exist! Also known as rose mallows, these often-overlooked perennials offer all the beauty and drama of their tropical cousins (and then some!) but are tough enough to overwinter outdoors in northern climates.
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What is a hardy Hibiscus?
- Most plants labeled as “hardy Hibiscus” are hybrids. They’re the result of crossing and selective breeding of different Hibiscus species by plant nurseries. This is done specifically to produce sturdy plants that don’t mind when things get a little chilly, but still produce amazing blooms that look like they came straight from a tropical island.
- The species involved in these crossings are often native to North America, so unlike the tropical Hibiscus, they’re used to our climate. Nurseries mostly use:
- Hibiscus moscheutos, the swamp rose mallow, which is native to eastern North America
- Hibiscus coccineus, the scarlet rose mallow, which is native to the southeastern US
- Hibiscus laevis, the halberd-leaf rose mallow, which is native to central to eastern North America
- Hardy Hibiscus plants are herbaceous sub-shrubs that grow to a maximum height of around 7 feet and can reach up to 4 feet in width. They’re usually among the last plants to produce leaves in spring, but they more than make up for that once they start flowering in mid to late summer.
- Hardy Hibiscus flowers, which often stick around until well into fall, are easy to recognize by their huge size and fragile, paper-thin petals. The blooms have prominent, cream-colored reproductive parts (pistil and stamens) in the center and come in a wide range of colors. You can find them in white (often with a pink center), pink, purple, red, and even blue-ish.
- Once the blooming season is over and temperatures begin to drop, your hardy Hibiscus will die off all the way to the ground. No worries: the roots are alive, and the plant will come right back in spring.
