Mrs George Davis Hibiscus

Mrs George Davis Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Mrs George Davis') is an old, well proven garden hibiscus that carries large pink blooms across the warm months on a shrub of about 2m tall and 1.5m wide. It is fast growing, so a young plant becomes a flowering screen within two seasons, and it takes heat, humidity and coastal salt in its stride.

Why you'll love it

• Big pink flowers, month after month. Individual blooms last about a day, but a settled plant opens new ones continuously right through the warm season.
• Fast to fill a space. It puts on real size in its first two summers, one of the quickest ways to soften a new fence or pool surround.
• Made for hot, humid and salty positions. Heat tolerant, humidity tolerant and salt tolerant, so it performs where many flowering shrubs sulk.
• A hedge that flowers. At 2m it screens at fence height, and a row at 1m spacing gives colour rather than green wall.

Where it works best

Poolside planting. Glossy leaves, no thorns and a tolerance for reflected heat make it a natural around a pool. Set plants back 1m from the coping so growth does not lean over the water.

Flowering hedge and screening. Plant 1m apart in a single row. The canopies meet in two seasons, and light tip pruning keeps the hedge dense while still leaving plenty of flowering wood.

Pots and coastal gardens. A container 500mm or wider suits a single plant, which settles nearer 1.2m to 1.5m potted. On a coastal block it handles salt wind well with some shelter.

Growing Mrs George Davis Hibiscus in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun for the heaviest flowering, at least six hours of direct light. This is a tropical, subtropical and warm temperate plant, and the limit is real: it is frost tender. In cool temperate and frosty inland gardens it will be damaged or killed over winter, so use a pot you can move under cover.

Soil. Well drained and enriched with compost before planting. Hibiscus are hungry feeders but will not sit in waterlogged ground, so mound the bed on clay and mulch 75mm deep clear of the stem.

Water and feed. Deep water twice a week through the warm months, more in a pot. Feed with a hibiscus or rose fertiliser every six to eight weeks from early spring to late summer.

Pruning. Prune in early spring as the weather warms, taking the plant back by up to a third to a framework of healthy wood. That triggers the new growth carrying the flowers.

What to expect when it arrives

This variety is grown as tube stock and in 200mm pots sold in packs of six. Tubes are young single stemmed plants and the economical option for a long hedge run, reaching flowering size in their second summer. The 200mm plants are branched, and a pack of six covers roughly 6m of hedge at 1m spacing.

Hibiscus can drop a few leaves or buds after transit, which is normal rather than a fault. Water on arrival, keep the plant sheltered for a week, then plant out into warm soil. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95 and a minimum order of $300 before delivery, under our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Planning a coastal feature garden
• Browse plants suited to poolside gardens
• Compare tropical garden plants
• Plants for subtropical climates

Common questions

Will it grow where I get frost?

Not in the ground. This hibiscus is frost tender and suits tropical, subtropical and warm temperate gardens. In a frosty district, grow it in a pot and move it under cover for winter.

How far apart for a hedge?

One metre apart in a single row gives a solid flowering screen in about two seasons. Stretch it to 1.5m if you would rather see each shrub as an individual plant.

Why are the buds dropping before they open?

Bud drop is usually a water swing, either drying out badly or sitting too wet, and it can also follow a cold snap or a transplant. Settle into a deep twice weekly watering routine and it recovers.