My orange Hibiscus flower - Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti
Look at the stunningly beautiful orange Hibiscus in the picture above, it is pretty, isn't it? Unlike nowadays that has bloomed continuously, this plant hadn't flowered for more than a year! So, what did I do to make this plant finally back to track to produce buds and bloom?
It's unbelievable when I saw for the first time after more than a year my orange Hibiscus hadn't bloomed! Last year, I didn't do any gardening activities in my corridor due to the coronavirus situation. Yes, last year was a hard time for everyone here in Singapore, even we were under circuit breaker for 2 months or you can call it semi-lockdown as the new cases in the community spiked and many people felt uncertain with the situation. Therefore, I didn't care about the healthiness of my plants nor bought new flowers. Completely, we just sit tight at home, watched and read the news and listen to our government conference, what do and don't during this unprecedented crisis. Because of this, sort of to say, I abandoned my plants! Sorry...😐
Since early 2021, I have gradually started my gardening activities as the condition far more stable by buying chicken fertilizer to give my plants nutrients so that they are in good shape again. However, I noticed one of my plants; and it was my orange Hibiscus, looked skinny without any leaves along the big branch. Only some leaves on the top even though I put chicken fertilizer but still it hadn't any improved. What happened?
My orange Hibiscus looks fluffy now and produces more buds! - Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti
A Hibiscus flower is typically a plant that loves planting on the ground. But, for me, it's virtually impossible to grow it on the ground since I live in an apartment. The only option is a pot to raise this flower. Well, it's quite challenging but I would like to try it. So, after bought from the flower and plant shop, my orange Hibiscus bloomed for some time until one day it didn't show any sign of buds. At this point, I trimmed in order to stimulate the growth of the flowers and gave it organic fertilizer. It failed!
More than a year, finally, my partner had an idea to buy fertilizer for bloom. Since then, once every two weeks, I put this special fertilizer to make it blooms! The result is fantastic! After the first fertilizer, I saw the growth of the leaves along its branch. Gradually, my orange Hibiscus produces buds and blooms!
Nowadays, My orange Hibiscus looks fluffy than before. And now it's 8 weeks and produces buds continuously and attracts Sunbird. Yes, I have 6 pots of Hibiscus Flowers now which two of them are still growing. With those flowers in my "garden", it brings the bird in the garden every day. Start around 8 AM until 5 PM, my "garden" just similar to the feeding station where Sunbird comes and goes from dawn to dusk!
That's what I did to make my orange Hibiscus blooms again and again. I put a special fertilizer for bloom. And it is not a big deal since the price of one pack of fertilizer (for bloom) only cost around $4. I can use it repeatedly because one plant only needs 1 tea table spoon or 1/2 of tbsp. So, it's quite a cheaper maintenance yet an amazing result. Moreover, I can use it for other Hibiscus plants so that I could provide a food source for the Sunbird. In another word, I create the Sunbird habitat in the apartment!😊
Note:
- Written by Acik Mardhiyanti
- Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti
- Do not copy this article without permission
- Do not reuse these photographs anywhere else without permission
