Chinese Hibiscus

Weather: Sun with a few clouds, a high of 89oF.

Today was my first day in indoor display. First off I will be working with Tim Jennings )who was a PG student 20 years ago) and old chap by the name of Ed. Tim looks after the lily ponds, the fern passage and the rose house.
First off we were in the rose house. The rose house is one of the older houses, and originally produced cut roses for the Du Pont house. As well as roses, both ends are filled with Chinese Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) hybrids, the the back walls are covered by five large vines.
Tim got up in a nifty bucket that runs on a track on the roof and started to prune a large Bougainvillea that is one of five vines on the back wall. All the vines get a hard cut back (laterals to 2-3 nodes) in mid summer. They are all extremely vigorous and if they were cut back would grow up the ceiling. According to Tim the Bougainvillea flowers twice per year, once in the fall and again in spring.
While Tim was pruning Jen (a summer intern) and I deadheaded the the Hibiscus while Ed gathered soil for a soil test. Hibiscus flowers are very short lasting (a day or so). We deadhead both for aesthetics (dead flowers aren't pretty) and also to keep the plants flowering (rather than putting energy into seed pods). I asked about Hibiscus cultivation as I have no experience with them. Apparently they are very pH sensitive, preferring a pH between 6.5 and 7. But they are also heavy feeders (Tim mentioned that while flowering they can fertilize while watering everyday!). This heavy feeding acidifies drops the pH (acidifies) meaning that the soil has to be amended with lime fairly regularly. pH tests are taken every week on a Monday. Hibiscus can also be susceptible to nematode damage, and a variety of other pests such as mealybug and aphids will bother them.

Once finished I helped Ed put some framing over one of the rose beds. I asked why we were doing it as I have dealt with roses outside and never had to erect framing or staked plants. Tim gave a good answer. First off, roses indoor are a completely different story. Precisely because there is no wind inside stems are not as strong. Also, the plants are planted very close. But mostly the framing is used because that was how long stemmed roses were produced in the 1920's, and the house is intended to retain that feel.

For the rest of the morning I watered the fern passage. Lots of ferns! But I couldn't see any NZ ferns, which I was slightly surprised about. In the arvo I helped Tim clean out  and organise the one glasshouse that has the ferns in it.