HIBISCUS
Queen of the Flowers

CHAPTER TEN

Do You Make Use of Your Hibiscus Blooms?

Here are a few suggestions for displaying your hibiscus blooms.

As the blooms last so well without water they are particularly useful for arrangements and table decoration. By picking the blooms early before they open (e.g. 7 or 8 am.) and placing them in the crisper in the fridge until 4 or 5 p.m. upon removal you will find them opening up and they will then last until after midnight. However, many of our newer varieties are 2 day flowers and usually last regardless, more so in the cooler months.

An uncluttered arrangement of small leaf foliage can be used for this, either in a vase or in a flat bowl arrangement. The stems of the flowers can be put into drinking straws or broken off close to the flower, and wire put into them. These are then arranged in a vase of greenery. In a flat arrangement just use foliage that has a trailing appearance, with a few blooms placed on the foliage.

Only a few blooms are needed for these arrangements. It only takes a few minutes to change the flowers each day and the base arrangement of foliage will last at least a week. A piece of driftwood, a little greenery, two or three blooms added and it will look very attractive.

Another easy arrangement is made by putting some small mesh wire netting over a bowl. A few colourful leaves or croton foliage is then used to cover the wire. These are then covered with hibiscus flowers of several colours. If time does not allow you to make an arrangement, just cover a large plate with hibiscus, an oval plate does seem to be best for this, but any plate or tray, large or small can be used. Floating the blooms in water also makes a fascinating effect.

For your table at Christmas the following arrangement may be of use:

A medium size blue, green or yellow bowl, with a red candle in the centre. Plasticine will hold it, but be sure that the bowl is completely dry or it will not stick. Use some tinsel Christmas decoration trailing over the edge of the bowl and hibiscus blooms around the base of the candle. Yellow with blue or green looks good, or you could use red blooms in a yellow bowl with a green candle. Just try various colour combinations.

Why not make a totem pole. This is made from a piece of fairly large bamboo. A piece 5-8 cm (2-3 in) in diameter is best with a length 90 cm-120 cm (3-4 ft). Set this in plaster of Paris in a 15 cm (6 in) pot or similar container. Drill holes in the bamboo at random, slanting them down for best results. Put your hibiscus all over the bamboo, and around the base. This looks very attractive and can be placed in a corner of a lounge or hallway and it will be very much admired.

Another suggestion is to use 5 cm (2 in) bamboo about 60 cm (2 ft) long with a wire loop in one end. Drill holes at random all over, cover with flowers and then hang from the ceiling or lean against a wall.

Use large bamboo, 60 cm (2 ft) long split in half lengthways as a hanging trough for hibiscus and trailing greenery. Hibiscus can always be kept in place by using straight pins. The trough could have a small piece of bamboo nailed across underneath each end and then stood on a table or window ledge. The trough is then filled with leaves and flowers.

We hope that you think up some other ways of displaying your hibiscus.