The surprise wasnt the flower - it was how this hibiscus grows: Fairy Dancer

🌺 The surprise wasn't the flower - it was how this hibiscus grows: Fairy Dancer

When Hibiscus 'Fairy Dancer' was first created, naturally everyone noticed the flowers. Those dangling red blooms, suspended on impossibly thin stems, were unlike anything we'd seen before.
But after growing Fairy Dancer for several years, we've discovered something else about Mark Hooten's unusual hybrid.
It seems to have taken the best growing traits from both parents.

🌺 Two very different parents

Fairy Dancer is a cross between Hibiscus grandidieri from Madagascar and the East African Coral Hibiscus, Hibiscus schizopetalus.
We grow both species, so we've had plenty of opportunity to compare them.
H. schizopetalus is vigorous and fast. But it loves making long, lanky shoots. Left to itself, it can become considerably more legs than bush.
H. grandidieri is almost the opposite. It has a naturally compact, branchy structure and beautiful little deeply lobed leaves. But in our experience, it's slower, more delicate and rather fussy about overwatering.
And then there's their offspring...
❗️Fairy Dancer grows fast AND branches!

🌺 Apparently, it chose wisely

Once established, Fairy Dancer takes off. It produces strong growth, branches readily and develops into a surprisingly full shrub.
It seems to have borrowed the vigor of H. schizopetalus without copying its lanky habit - and the bushiness and delicate foliage of H. grandidieri without inheriting its fussier personality.

Even the flowers landed somewhere beautifully in between, quite literally!
The tiny flowers of H. grandidieri measure about 1 inch across, while H. schizopetalus produces impressive 3-inch blooms.
Fairy Dancer settled right in the middle, at approximately 2 inches - twice the size of its Madagascan parent's flowers!

They retain the dangling, exotic character of H. schizopetalus, but have their own distinctive shape: bright red petals above an extraordinarily long staminal column that dances beneath the flower.
💡Hibiscus 'Fairy Dancer' is one of those cases where hybridization did much more than create a different bloom.
It created a better garden plant!

🌺 And now we can really see it

Our current Fairy Dancers have grown into big, full, beautifully branched plants.
We have excellent specimens in 3-gallon containers, with some already carrying buds and flowers.
So yes, we originally fell for Fairy Dancer because of those bizarre floating flowers.
But after actually growing it?
We may like the plant even more.

🛒 Get your Fairy Dancer – the best of both parents

📚 Learn more:

• Hibiscus grandidieri x schizopetalus in Plant Encyclopedia
• What happens when two rare hibiscus species meet: a flower unlike any other
• Skeleton Hibiscus with "crazy petals" - flower will blow your mind
• Many faces of hibiscus
• Much more than fancy flowers: discover the many faces of hibiscus
• How to get rid of pests on Hibiscus?
• How to make your Hibiscus plants thrive and bloom

#Fun_Facts #Hedges_with_benefits #Discover

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