It won't be long before one of my favorite dieback shrubs begins its long reign of color in my garden. I'm talking about the hibiscus that thrives in our gardens but dies back to the ground each winter.

Last season they started blooming in early August and kept going until late September or early October. Granted, last year was very rainy and that helped. Also I confess that in my enthusiasm I may have occasionally deadheaded the spent blooms as they started to form seed heads. I won't swear to that, but that would help extend the bloom season, too.

Its very large flowers are often said to match the size of your dinner plates. That may be a stretch, but they get close. Colors generally cover white and red and a multitude of shades in between. Lately there seems to be a lot of activity in producing new cultivars of this plant.

Many years ago, in another state, I slammed on my brakes and wheeled into a rest stop when I spotted a huge planting of hibiscus. I swear they had a yellow one. That started a search. Success came this spring when I found a yellow one. I haven't seen it bloom yet but the anticipation is high.

The first thing to know if you try to grow this plant is that it emerges from the ground very late. Usually they emerge in mid May but do not schedule any funerals until the second week of June. I have seen them come up and thrive at that late date. For this reason I always let the dead stems stand until I see new growth before I hunt the shears.

This year I was so slow that I just got there last week. I found the old stems so fragile that I could easily snap off at the ground with my hand. That's another note in my handbook for lazy gardeners. Once they emerge, they grow like gangbusters. The small ones will stop just past your waist and the tall ones will reach head high. The first year in the garden I started with a single stem. I had two to five stems the second year and this year up to ten or a dozen stems.

The shorter varieties seem to produce larger clumps more quickly. The tall ones may sprawl a bit if left un-staked. My solution to that problem is to pinch the tops when they are about two feet tall. That gives a stiffer stalk and promotes branching. That works with a lot of tall perennials.

This group of hibiscus has several insect problems. This spring something was shredding the first leaves. My observation is that it was the same flea beetle that is active in our vegetable gardens in early spring. Damp conditions also favor this small black beetle.

By the time I started to worry about this, the lightning fast growth of the plant had overshadowed the beetle damage. Japanese beetles also can be a problem. If it is a bad Japanese beetle year or if you live in an area prone to them, you may want to think about an insecticide. There is no insect that I know that is easier to kill than Japanese beetles.

I seldom spray, but I may be a bit more tolerant of damage, or lazy, or have too big a garden to get there. I just enjoy the natural shows that the garden produces. My hibiscus always produces one of the best ones.