Double Hibiscus - The Imelda Effect!

Tropical Storm Imelda dumped 4.56 inches over a four hour period at the rain gage on Buffalo Bayou.  You can see the impact on the Double Hibiscus pot which is planted in a 18 inch wide & 14 inch tall ceramic pot.  The pot was placed on top of an elevated bed which is 5 inches tall.  One would have thought that water would drain through the bottom of the pot and into the elevated bed.  However, this time the bottom of the pot apparently sat in soil so moist from the heavy rain that it formed a vacuum that prevented the water from draining out the bottom.  You can see the water sitting in the top of the pot with mushrooms forming on Sep 19th.

On Sep 21st, I noticed the double hibiscus leaves were starting to turn yellow and realized the pot was waterlogged.  I lifted the 50 lb. plus pot out of the bed and placed it on the sidewalk.  Yellow water came out the bottom as you can see from the pics.  In order to prevent this from happening again, I dug out the soil where the pot sat and put in Colorado River Rocks on Sep 26th before setting the pot back in the bed.  I am happy to report that the double hibiscus recovered and produced multiple blooms on Sep 30th.  Whew … a close call!