I have had a long standing love affair with hibiscus, it stems from my visits to the Caribbean when I was a teenager, I just loved the blooms and would constantly wander around with one tucked behind my ear and wanted to grow them from then on. Of course here in NC we have two types the "hardy" hibiscus (also called mallow) which have huge blooms the size of dinner plates, then there are the non-hardy types, smaller more delicate blooms more reminiscent of the caribbean blooms. I have both types (of course seeing as they were both on the dead plant section at Lowes). Here is the "non hardy" taken with a back board and not the best conditions.



Here is the hardy version, as you can see the flower is almost five times the size of the non-hardy version, but it is spectacular.



Are they not beautiful, I defy anyone to look at them and not drool.