Gratitude for a Gift

It's been a while, but remember this lovely hibiscus I received as a gift?

It now looks like this, branched out, a little bit bigger, and with three or four buds that I hope will open soon.

This was a gift from long-time family friends, Joe and Vicki, grown from cuttings from the original plant that Vicki's brother brought from Poland over 90 years ago.

Joe died over the summer, so Vicki lives by herself now and is finding it increasingly difficult to get around and do things. She offered me her last big hibiscus plant because she couldn't lift it or take care of it any more, and I gladly accepted her generous gift, especially when she was kind enough to say that she wanted it to go to a good home.

I'm not sure if it will stay in NJ or end up in MD, but It's going to live outside in NJ for a while so I can give it some special TLC. It's got a serious infestation of whiteflies. I tried washing them off with soap and water in the shower, but that didn't get rid of all of the insects and eggs, so I sprayed the plant with imadacloprid last weekend and that seems to be working well. As soon as I'm sure all the little sap-suckers are gone, I'm going to repot the plant because the roots are growing out of the bottom. I may also prune it a bit, but I'm going to do all of this slowly and carefully. I really don't want anything untoward to happen to this lovely hibiscus, a gift that's a wonderful reminder of some special friends. I'm grateful for both the friends and the gift.