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How to care for “Aunt Doll”
Aunt Doll is a hibiscus standard tree/plant, white with a bit of red in middle of flower. She has been in pot for 10 years now and I now have room in my new garden for her. Concern is when to plant her, (massive hole needed), do I wait until winter? Also, she is a bit spindley, can I cut the stems down to promote leaves on bare branches?
many thanks.
many thanks.
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Ideally th ehole need sto be twice as wide as the roo ball so there is loose soil around it for the roots to spread sideways in search of nutrients and water. They like a moist but well drained soil so, if yours is clay, make sure you work plenty of grit into the bottom of the hole to improve drainage and plant it on a slight mound.
Add some organic matter and pelleted manure to the soil you use to backfill and give your hibiscus a good drink after planting and then daily/every other day/every 3 or 4 days depending on local heat levels and rainfall.
The time to prune is next spring and on a day when no frost is forecast for a few days so the wounds can heal over a bit before the raw edges get frosted again.