This site is all about growing Tropical Hibiscus, based on my own gardening and hibiscus show exhibition experience in the Houston area. An avid gardener for over 50 years, my wife and I have been hibiscus fanciers since 1999, when we were exposed to Hibiscus mania during a visit to a Lone Star Chapter hibiscus show.
The term “Tropical Hibiscus” generally refers to cultivars of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Often hybridized by both hobbyists and commercial growers, there are thousands of named varieties. Typical garden variety hibiscus plants normally fall in the range of 3 to 6 feet tall.
However, due to the incredible variety of cultivars, bush size for some plants may vary from ground-hugging to 10 feet tall or more. Tropical hibiscus are not cold-tolerant and must be protected from freezing temperatures.
We’ve grown nearly 300 different varieties of Tropical Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), and have received numerous awards for our hibiscus blooms at AHS hibiscus shows.
In 2002, I volunteered to build web sites for the Lone Star Chapter and Space City Chapter of the American Hibiscus Society, and continue to assist the Lone Star Chapter in maintaining its Web site.
Also as a volunteer, from 2002-2007, I designed, hosted, financed, and managed, the first Internet Hibiscus Nomenclature Database for the American Hibiscus Society, while also taking on the position of Chairman of the AHS Nomenclature Committee (aka: “Nomenclature Officer”).
For the first time, the AHS Hibiscus Nomenclature was published on the Internet as a public document, and over the next few years the AHS official Tropical Hibiscus Database received nearly a million “hits” from visitors.
During the years it was in operation, this original AHS Nomenclature Database contained information on more than 7,000 tropical hibiscus varieties, with photos of several thousand of the beautiful flowers. The Internet database provided hibiscus fanciers with advanced search capabilities and growers were able to register new hibiscus cultivars via online forms.
After retiring from the Nomenclature Officer position in 2007, I kept the hibiscus online database running for another year or so, then finally discontinued it when it was no longer economical to maintain as a private volunteer effort.
The AHS Board later authorized funding for a new online nomenclature registry, completely separate and different from the original.
Although work demands and several hurricanes have reduced the size of our tropical hibiscus collection over the last few years, we still grow and love this fascinating plant, and those incredible blooms! This web site is my attempt to pass on some of the knowledge picked up over years of intensive study & cultivation of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.
“THANKS” to the many helpful Lone Star & Space City chapter members who tutored us through the early days of growing & showing our hibiscus blooms!
May Your Thumb Always be Green!
Rick Osgood