Potting & Planting Hibiscus

You just got your first exotic hibiscus plants, and now your first decision is whether to keep the hibiscus potted or to plant it in the ground. Hibiscus are tropical plants, so if you live in a place that freezes in the winter, the answer is an easy one - keep your hibiscus in pots that can be moved to a warm spot during winter freezes. If you live in a warm place that rarely freezes, and just barely hits 32° one or two nights per year at the most, then you have the option of planting your hibiscus in the ground. There are good reasons to keep them potted, such as being able to move them around, but we have also found that hibiscus do very well when planted in the ground in warm climates.

Winter Bloom for Your Garden

For those of us in hibernal denial, however, there’s another outlet: find plants that actually bloom in winter.
Some of these misfits are well known: the Christmas rose (which rarely blooms at Christmas, and in any case is not a rose, but a hellebore, Helleborus niger) and the Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis) are planted to provide winter bloom.