June's Joy

This 2004 bloom is June's Joy. It was hybridized in Australia by Bob Gray. This photo is a bit out of focus, but it clearly shows June's Joy's strong points of its rich colors. The yellow border edging highlights the bright red center. In the Hibiscus competions, a tally is taken of all the gold ribbon blooms and the person with the most gold ribbons within their category is awarded the Sweepstakes ribbon for that category. For the 2004 New Orleans Hibiscus Show, we were fortunate enough to win the Collector Sweepstakes ribbon. At this point you are allowed to select one of your blooms to be displayed next to your ribbon at the head table. We selected June's Joy to represent our entries. This picture is of the last bloom this bush ever produced. Shortly after the show, the bush started wilting and was dead within a month's time. Hibiscus are very particular about the temperatures they like and their watering conditions. They like temperatures no higher that 80 degrees. For water, they like water every day, yet they don't like wet roots. They need well drained soil. In New Orleans, summers provide steady high heat, usually in the 90's and lots of rain...or no rain. In New Orleans, they like the spring and fall the best, and if you can avoid a freeze, they like winters, too!