ROS finally bloomed yesterday!

16 years ago

I started a ROS from seed about 3 years ago. It has been a small plant every year but never bloomed until yesterday. It has the smallest blooms I have ever seen, but it is still a very small plant. I have to post a pic. how long do ROS take to establish?

Thanks!

Maria

Comment (1)

katrina1
16 years ago
It depends on what cultivar of ROS it is.

In June of this year, just prior to when my 5 foot tall ROS tree, shrub recovered enough from this year's late spring freeze damage well enough to begin to start producing bloom buds. I took 4 cuttings. This Hibiscus is my 'Blue Satin' ROS hardy hibiscus.

The cuttings are now rooted and only about three inches tall including the tiny, thin trunk and small canopy. Two of them have been trying to set small bloom buds for the last two months. I keep pinching those buds off though because I want them to use their energy to grow and produce a good root system and thicker trunk.

I also have three 4 inch pots of more mature Blue Satin ros that I purchased from a local nursery. Even though they have a larger and thicker trunk, their main leader trunk and conopy are only just about 6 inches tall. Even while they were kept in their small pots and put in an area where they got full morning shade, and a little dappled afternoon light they still would put out a nice sized bloom every now and then throughout the summer.

Since I moved them to an area that gets morning sun and afternoon shade and started pinching off the bloom buds they have slowed down in trying to produce new buds. I just planted them in that bed today, so will have to wait and see if they start to try and bloom more often again.

Do not expect your ROS to behave the same as mine though, because most of the different ROS cultivars have different growth and bloom patterns and tendencies.

Now that yours is starting to bloom it is a good sign that the root system is becoming better established. The small size of bloom suggests that the soil where the ros is growing is low on some specifically needed nutrients or soil elements. A soil test should help you determine, specifically, what needs to be added. If the soil test results show nothing is need to be added to the soil, then consider the lighting, drainage, and moisture needs of your Ros and check to make sure it is getting what it needs out of those environmental aspects.