Tropical Hibiscus
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
A tropical shrub with huge, bold flowers in a rainbow of colours over a long season, each lasting about a day, loved by hummingbirds and butterflies, and grown as a hedge, accent or pot plant. It wants warmth, sun and moist, well-drained soil; light frost cuts it to the ground, and moving it can make it drop buds.
- Mature size
- 6 × 5 ft
- 1.8 × 1.5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 9a–11b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium to moist
- Blooms
- May–Oct
Tropical Hibiscus at its mature size
A mature Tropical Hibiscus grows to about 6 ft tall and 5 ft wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, UF/IFAS Extension.
Through the year
What Tropical Hibiscus looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In leaf · Dec–Mar
Glossy dark green leaves, few flowers.
In flower · Apr–Nov
Large open red single flowers among the leaves.
Photos
Growing Tropical Hibiscus
- Grows well in
- The Southeast and California.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Privacy screen, hedge, small space, foundation planting, and deer resistant
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Garden origin (tropical Asia)
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Tropical Hibiscus, that’s about 5 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Tropical Hibiscus in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other hibiscus
Hardy Hibiscus
Tropical Hibiscus
Rose of SharonAll drawn to the same scale.