Last year my Mom and I scouted out some perennial hibiscus plants at the St. Jacobs Farmers Market. You have have seen these show-stoppers around, they’ve become more and more popular over the last few years. They tend to come in a deep red, pinks or white with pink centres. I brought one home and plunked it in the front flower bed. I think I got a few flowers on it last year (they start kind of late in the season), but this year it is huge and flowering like crazy.
![Perennial Hibiscus Perennial Hibiscus](http://www.digginthedirt.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/2788771144_0d834823dc.jpg)
The flowers on these babies can top out at approximately 8 or 9 inches across! My plant is about 4 feet tall and about 3 feet wide. To balance him off I have some red sunflowers growing beside him (grown from seed, “Velvet Queen” by McKenzie Seeds).
![Red sunflower Sunflower](http://www.digginthedirt.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/2788771016_3904c7eb32.jpg)
![Red sunflower Sunflower](http://www.digginthedirt.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/2788770880_068370fe57.jpg)
Hibiscus makes for a great beer ingredient too, as evidenced by Dieu du Ciel! You should try out their Rosée d’hibiscus if you haven’t already.
Check out:
http://micro.dieuduciel.com/en/beers.php