This summer I planted for hours with my mother-in-law’s help. We finally got the whole yard mulched (if you don’t know me, I want nothing to do with grass and mowing). Everything was looking lovely, except then we got a new puppy named Monster Ichigo. That dog ripped up, ate up, and dug up pretty much everything. Clearly I should not have wasted money on plants. *sigh*

One plant that lasted fairly long was my lovely hibiscus. Supposedly the hibiscus works in the planting zone I live in here in the Pacific NW. I wanted to see how it lasted over the winter. My neighbor did too. Sadly, Ichigo did not. He slowly but surely kept crashing into the plant, cracking off flowers and basically destroying its will to live.

Poor hibiscus. You were lovely.

UPDATE March 2013: The hibiscus survived not only the puppy attacks, but Seattle winter weather too. The plant started sprouting up in July and was flowering in late August and into September. With that success in tow, I planted six more, three white/pink and the other three the same pink/red as shown below, in our parking strip. Summer is still months away but I’m looking forward to returned growth this year. Full, hot sun seems to be best for the hibiscus (with ample watering- I use an in-ground soaker hose). In the original specimen’s current position in my yard, the plant is shaded by the shadow of the house during a couple of the prime sun hours; I’m thinking I may transplant the hibiscus this year to a little further south in my yard to give it access to more sunlight. I’m hoping it will bloom a little earlier in the season with more heat.