Hibiscus ‘El Capitolo’

Hibiscus 'El Capitolo' (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'El Capitolo') carries some of the largest blooms in the hibiscus world on a shrub that stops at 2m tall and 1.5m wide. The flowers are heavily ruffled doubles in warm red to orange, and in a frost free garden they keep coming most of the year. It is fast, salt tolerant, and one of the few flowering shrubs genuinely happy beside a pool.

Why you'll love it

• Blooms you notice from the street. Large ruffled doubles in red to orange. The shade shifts with the season and with feeding, running warmer in summer heat.
• Fast to fill its space. A tube plant can be flowering in its first full warm season, which is quick for a 2m shrub.
• Built for the coast and the pool. Salt tolerant, heat tolerant and comfortable in humidity, so splash, glare and sea breeze do not set it back. Honeyeaters work the flowers hard.
• Small enough for a pot. A 500mm container on a courtyard or balcony suits it, and pot culture keeps it nearer 1.5m.

Where it works best

Poolside and coastal gardens. It handles salt spray and reflected heat off paving, and the leaves are large and firm rather than fine, so they do not shed into water.

Informal screening. Set plants 1m apart, based on the 1.5m mature width, for a soft screen to around 2m. Be clear about what that is: a loose flowering thicket rather than a clipped hedge.

Growing Hibiscus 'El Capitolo' in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, six hours minimum, drives the flowering. This is a plant for tropical, subtropical and warm temperate gardens only. It is frost tender, so in Melbourne, Adelaide and cold inland districts, pot it and move it under cover for winter.

Soil. Free draining and enriched. Dig compost through the bed, and on clay plant on a low mound so water moves away from the crown. Mulch 75mm deep. It resents wet roots more than dry ones.

Water and feed. Keep moisture even through the warmer months, because a dry spell at bud stage is the usual reason buds drop. Feed every six to eight weeks from spring to late summer with a hibiscus food, and go lightly on nitrogen.

Pruning. Cut back by a third in early spring once the cold has passed, and clear thin twiggy wood from the middle. Flowers form on new growth, so that prune keeps the display going.

What to expect when it arrives

It is grown in two sizes: tube stock, and 200mm pots in packs of six. Tube stock is a young single stemmed plant, cheap enough to buy in numbers, and in a warm garden it reaches a metre inside a year. The 200mm plants are branched and closer to flowering size.

Hibiscus are honest travellers but they sulk briefly. Expect a few dropped buds in the week after planting, then new shoots within four to six weeks in warm weather. Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• The complete hibiscus care guide for Australian gardens
• Browse plants suited to poolside planting
• Fijian White Hibiscus for the same habit in white
• Compare the wider tropical plant range

Common questions

Why are the buds dropping before they open?

Bud drop is almost always water stress, either a dry spell or a sudden soaking after one. Keep the soil evenly moist through summer, and check for hibiscus beetle inside any bud that drops with a hole in it.

Will it survive frost?

Not reliably. It is frost tender, so cold inland and southern gardens should treat it as a container plant that winters under cover. In tropical, subtropical and warm temperate gardens it stays outside year round.

How big will it get in a pot?

Around 1.5m tall in a 500mm container, less if you prune annually. Water daily in summer heat, and root prune every second or third year to keep it flowering.