“Sunny Wind Hibiscus is one of a group of compact tropical hibiscus called Trade Winds Hibiscus. Grown by Green Leaf Plants, the Trade Winds Collection contains different shades red, yellow, peach and orange hibiscus. Last I counted, they had 18 varieties.
We have the Sunny Wind hibiscus. How we got it was a matter of being in the right spot at the right time.
I was just walking into my local Lowes garden entrance one day and up towards the front of the nursery, there was one plant that stood out from all of the others. At only about a foot and a half tall, this plant had one very large, bright (and I mean very bright) yellow flower on it. A small hibiscus with sunshine yellow flowers. Being as how I’ve seen these one off plants show up before at Lowes, only to pass on by them with later regret, I bought this one while I had the chance.
This hibiscus is great. We’ve had it for about two years now and it has lived up to the “compact” name. I’ve purchased so called dwarf or miniature hibiscus before, only to have them shoot up to six foot after a season or two. Our Sunny Wind has remained compact and has not become pot greedy. Growth is relatively slow, both above and below ground. It’s grown to only about two and a half feet tall. It makes a great patio or deck plant.
This plant spent it’s first year out on the deck getting sun from noon through the late afternoon. The leaves got to get a little burnt looking during the peak of summer and keeping the soil moist in the pot became a daily chore. But, after relocating this plant, we noticed that it seems to like three or four hours of morning sun and filtered shade in the afternoon.
Now, for the flowers. One after the other after the other! Six to seven inches wide with deep red centers surrounded by that vivid yellow.
This little hibiscus flowers well into fall. Even when it’s tucked in under cover for winter, it still put out a bloom every now and then.
Beware though, if you keep this hibiscus in shade all day, it will bloom like most hibiscus….no blooms at all. Give it a little light and the blooming begins. Give it a lot of light and it puts out bloom after bloom after bloom. We’ve had up to half a dozen flowers in full bloom at one time. For a small plant with six inch flowers, it’s quite a sight.
The grower states that their Trade Winds Hibiscus can take temperatures down to 35 degrees. We’ve put that statement to the test for two winters and the plant has done quite well. Of course, we didn’t leave it out in the open on cold winter nights.
A tropical plant that does well in a pot, flowers profusely, can take winter temps down into the thirties, and doesn’t mind being shuffled around?
That’s the kind of plant that we enjoy.
So, if you see any of these Sunny Wind Hibiscus at you local nursery or big box store, consider buying one and give it a try. If you feed them some organic fertilizer and keep the watered, they will reward you with wonderfully bright flowers and deep green foliage. Perfect for that special focal point on your patio.
Happy Gardening,
Dave and Trish
Learn more about this plant at:
SFGate
I have a Sunny Wind Hibiscus, I love it. I bought it last year it didn’t flower much. So in the winter I brought it inside the house for awhile it look really healthily, but after a few months the branches starting getting dry and I thought i was going to die. I put a some potting mix to cover the branches and the roots, watered and it came back. This summer it has given so many flowers. I love it.
Glad to hear that You are enjoying it. They are certainly lovely flowers.
Hi Dave,
Three weeks ago, I bought the Sunny Wind Hibiscus from Home Depot. I leave in Las Vegas, NV. My hibiscus is placed in a no-direct-sun area. It’s summer, so we have 3-digit temps. I first noticed the leaves were wilting, and so I watered it. Since then, I’m watering it in the morning, and misting the leaves 3-4 times a day. Today, I was rewarded with my first flower. I just would like to share what I’m doing.
Hi Maria,
Great! I’m so glad that you found one and that you are already enjoying it’s beautiful flowers. Thanks for sharing how you are caring for this plant.
I have a sunny wind and am experiencing some problems with it. I have had it for just over a year. There are plenty of buds (over 20 right now), but they reach the bursting point and don’t open! There is new growth, but I have yet to see a flower. Last summer it brought me so much joy I call it my sunshine plant. Already it is August, any thoughts?
Hi K,
Sorry for the delay in responding to you question, but I have been away on vacation for a bit. Away from everything.
As for your problem with buds not opening, there are so many factors that can affect tropical hibiscus. I am currently experiencing the same issue with our Sunny Wind plant. Lots of blooms and barely any of them opening. Too much or too little water? Too much sun or too much shade? Not enough fertilizer or too much fertilizer? Insects such as aphids, thrips, scale, whiteflies? All of these things can cause hibiscus buds to not open into flowers or worse yet, drop the buds. By analyzing and eliminating the different factors, I think that ours is getting too much water from the summer rains. (It’s a potted plant) Also, I have neglected feeding it regularly with a dry 10-10-10 or 7-2-7 fertilizer. I’ve learned to avoid the high bloom (10-40-10) type in my potted flowering plants. The phosphorous seems to build up over time in the potting soil. (The bloom boost fertilizers work ok if you use it as a liquid foliar spray.)
I’m afraid the the best advise I can offer it to observe and see if any of the above causes are out of balance and make sure that there are not any of those tiny insects hiding out on your plant.
Good luck! And when you find the answer, please feel free to share it with us.
Thanks,
Dave
We just purchased our Sunny Wind Hibiscus at Lowe’s and as you said the big beautiful yellow flower caught our eye. The card told us bright sun all day so we put it on our patio and by morning the flower was wilted and dried up and the leaves were turning gold color lik being burnt. We moved the plant to a less sunny area and hopefully will survive. We live in sunny Nevada where our temperatures are over 100 degrees every day now into June and July and most of August. Do you have any tips for us? Shade, morning sun only, no sun? We would appreciate any suggestions you might have so we don’t lose this beautiful plant. Thank you.
Hi Shirley,
I am so happy for you to have found one if these beautiful plants. That part about “full sun” may work in the northern states, but here in Florida and from my experience of living in Arizona for a few years, I believe that the sun is just too intense in the southwest and southeast for many of the so called full sun plants.
Initially, we had ours under west edge of a shade room roof that blocks out about 85% of the sun’s rays. Our plant would get mid-day sun for only 2 hours or so. (The time it took the sun to move past the shade roof and before going over some tall clumping bamboo.)
Currently, we have it sitting on a bench against a west side privacy fence. A gazebo canopy sits east of it, about 5 feet away. Now it gets just an hour or so of early morning sun, followed by several hours of shade. By late morning it is full sun until about 1 or 2 in the afternoon.
The biggest issue we have is keeping it watered. It will wilt in a heartbeat.
Remember, most hibiscus flowers go not last more than a day…or 2 if you ARE lucky. Prune off the dead flowers to encourage new buds.
If you are fortunate enough to get some filtered sun or dappled shade, I think that you will see good results. It’s a fine line between sun and shade with this plant. Too much sun and it will cook…..too much shade and it will not give you those big beautiful flowers. I have noticed that in the shade, the flowers are not quite as large.
Your burnt looking leaves may not recover so well, but new growth will quickly fill in what leaves you may lose.
Good luck and let us know what shade/sun formula works for you.
Thanks!
Just a quick thanks for this article! It came up on a quick search while I was at Orchard and turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. I’m assuming you feed it every month or so spring-fall?
You’re welcome!
I like to use Osmocote. Osmocote can seem a little pricey, but it’s easy to work with and a little bit seems to go a long way towards making all of our plants look good. I sprinkle a little every month or so.
Thanks for the comment.
You advertise that you have sunny wind hibiscus,, but there are non on your site.
Please me know if you have any,
Thank you
Hi Joan,
I’m sorry, but the Sunny Wind Hibiscus is no longer available at Amazon. I have searched the web for them with no luck.
It appears that we are fortunate to have the one plant that appears in this post. (Perhaps I should propagage more of them?)
Originally, we found this plant at Lowe’s. So, you might keep an eye out for one at you local store.
Also, I’ve removed the bad link.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. It makes me wonder why no other growers have this wonderful plant available.
Dave
We have thousand of hibiscus in our garden, we are new in gardening so, looking for usage of hibiscus , this article is very informative we learned many things from this article.
thank for share with us.
Thank you very much. I’m glad that you found the article informative.