This might serve as a question as easily as it serves as a comment.
In six and a half years gardening in this location I can easily say this Hibiscus gets more comments, more raves, and more requests for cuttings than any other plant in my garden. I know I'm supposed to... but I just don't get it. I'm always polite... I thank them for their compliments and agree with them that this Hibiscus is beautiful... and I mean what I say. But I just don't get it.
They walk past the Dutch Iris, the Oakleaf Hydrangea, the Exbury Hybrid Azaleas, the Hellebores, the Alliums, the Spanish Bluebells, the black-leafed Elderberry, the 'Black & Blue' Salvia, the 'Rooguchi' Clematis, the Hostas and the Heucheras, the Cranesbills, the Gooseneck Loosestrife and any number of other perennials in bloom... and they say things like, "Oh, that's nice." or "Very pretty." The only thing they say about the Peonies is, "They don't last long, do they!" And one woman's comment about my eight varieties of hardy Ferns was, "Well, they come up... and that's it."
And then they go absolutely bonkers over this Hibiscus.
Don't get me wrong... I like this Hibiscus... its foliage is not your usual Hibiscus foliage... and the blooms are a wonderful deep, dark red color.
But going bonkers over this plant to the exclusion of all the others is, to me, kind of like going bonkers over a large planting of Impatiens, or Periwinkles, or Marigolds, or [God Forbid!] bedding Begonias.
Sometimes I think the smaller the bloom the more attention it deserves... with the exception of Impatiens, Periwinkles, Marigolds and [God Forbid!] bedding Begonias of course.
I'm not being very nice, am I?
