PlantFiles: Hardy Hibiscus, Rose Mallow, Swamp Mallow
Hibiscus moscheutos 'Disco Belle Red'

Central Arkansas, Zone 7b. This hibiscus very tough. I bought one three gallon pot in August for hubby's birthday, planted it, kept it watered for a few months, then dug it up in the fall and chopped the roots into four big pieces. I replanted those in the center of my border out by the road and they reached full size (almost 3 feet tall and quite bushy) the following spring. I get lots of comments on this plant and people stop their car to stare. This plant breaks dormancy in May (great to interplant with early spring bulbs) and starts blooming for me the first week of June and continues until a hard frost knocks it down until the next spring. I have also had good success rooting branches in a vase of water that the dog broke off . It took my cuttings two years to reach a good size and start flowering.

I absolutely love this plant!! When it is in bloom, cars slow down to check it out. If you like something that screams "Hey!! Check me out", then this is the plant for you. I leave mine in the ground and it comes back every year. I do need to start the propagation process with this but haven't yet. Unfortunately, the hibiscus sawfly absolutely loves this plant and they will start laying their eggs on the undersides of the leaves at which point the larva hatch and will start chewing the leaves down to ratty little nubs of nothing! The larva are almost invisible they are so small, so even if you think you have found all the critters making lunch of your plant, you must go back and really take time to check and make sure they are really all gone. Prevention is key. Next year I will apply a systemic to the base of the plant when it breaks dormancy to keep from having to spray any pesticides that do have collateral damage. I did have to cut mine back to the ground early in the season as I didn't realize I had already had a serious infestation and it looked quite bad up close. While it did come back and bloom nicely, it was taller and more floriferous last year. It is of note that the two plants I originally purchased quickly went downhill after purchase as a friend of mines did the year prior. She assured me that hers came back even though it appeared dead in July and so I patiently kept my 2 dead looking plants in pots through the summer fall and winter and they did in fact break dormancy, were planted and have been fine since. I think this is why I have seen them sold as annuals, but they are certainly not. This is a plant worth having and it will continue to have a home here in my front border. This year mine started blooming at the end of June through the middle to end of July and they bloom for one day, but there are blooms every day.

I have two plants in pots started easily from cuttings late last fall ~ one is three feet tall and already flowering! It's SO healthy and happy there in the pot, but I can't wait to put it in the ground and watch it take off. Gorgeous MASSIVE blooms ~ too bad they last only one day.

I grew this plant in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, and it amazed me, as it produces huge flowers on quite small plants which are not more than two feet tall. This plant has survived three quite cold winters in Georgia, and I collected seed, which I have started here in NorthCentral Florida, zone 8b. The plants are now about 4 inches tall in August, and will be overwintered in pots in a cool greenhouse or cold frame, and placed out in flower beds when I feel they are large enough to survive our voracious insects. It will be interesting to see if they come up true to color from seed, as I don't know much about the Disco Bell line.