Currently in my living room, I originally purchased her as an unnamed variety at the grocery store. I don't remember a lot about her back then, except for that she was pretty and had a lot of blooms. I do remember the blooms were NOT orange.

She spent all of the following years either wintering in our Solar Room or summering outside on our deck. One Winter, a long time ago, she almost froze to death and never quite recovered. She stopped blooming. I kept her anyhow.

Another Winter, after that, she again almost froze to death when the tempts outside dropped and stayed below 0 degrees Fahrenheit for an extended period of time. Being larger, she was farther away from the space heaters than many of the other surviving hibiscuses, but she did survive. She also developed some kind of blue green fungus (I assume) on the woody tree like stem. We tried to treat it with no success. Still, she survived.

Finally, 4 years ago, I started to prune away as much of the affected wood as I could each Spring. Plus, I also used Purell hand cleaner on the areas that couldn't be pruned. As a result, she got smaller and smaller. But no new fungus developed beyond the originally affected wood. And she lived. Only this one plant had the condition. Last Spring, she finally put out a single flower again after many years of being dormant. It was a light pink single.

Last December, when the extreme cold outside effected the tempts in the Solar Room, this was one of the first hibiscuses that we brought into the main part of our home. She drooped and looked like she was going to totally collapse. After mutli years of pruning, she was again manageable enough size to move.

Anyhow, the fungus on her branches was finally totally gone. Indoors, her leaves also grew healthier and healthier. Because is so large, I couldn't place her near a window. So, she is now sitting in the living room next to our foyer: a long way from windows. However, being tall, she seems to like the recessed lights in our living room ceiling. To my surprise, she started to set multiple flower buds, while most of my other hibiscus are dormant. This is her first flower in a year and only her second flower in the past dozen years. However, it is not pink like her original flowers. It is brilliant orange.

So are all the other flowers on her that are soon to open. All seem to be bright orange. What a surprise. It's a pretty surprise. Seeing her again look extremely healthy is also amazing.

She can't remain in our living room forever; so, she will be going back onto the deck in May. Hopefully, she will continue to thrive. After years of touch and go, she looks so pretty now and is fully back to health. The striking orange flowers are a bonus. It will be interesting to see if they go back to being pink once she goes back outdoors.