It is a nightmare plant. We lived in the southern part of the Dordogne for three years and you would see it everywhere. We never managed to get rid of it but just about stopped it from spreading by constant digging. It does kill other plants and yet they still sell it in garden centres
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I must be really unobservant as I’m also mid Dordogne and not noticed it. I’m seriously not sure as earlier Jane or Angela, or someone said they grow to 1.5 metres and mine is 30cm I maybe have something else!
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Well we were on the border with the lot region but it was definitely hyperlicium and sorry to say it was about 30cm high. It is a very vigorous ground cover plant. In the past we’ve had Japanese knotweed which we found easier to control than hyperlicium. It seems to thrive on poor soil
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There are a number of hypericums in the family. Some are benign.
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The hypericum I have is very low growing @toryroo (and a menace)
Interesting idea about sealing the edges of the membrane @Debby_Wade - I’ll give that a go!
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I found a layer of cardbord, covered with a thick layer of mulch to keep it in position, works just as well and is cheaper than any plastic membrane.
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That’s what I do on my vegetable gardens each year but put my home made compost on top.
Cardboard and mulch should work fine to keep the weeds down.
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I know that’s the more ecological approach but it doesn’t work very well for me! Sorry and all that…
I know it’s s bit early to worry about this but I notice there’s some cold nights in the forecast so we’re thinking about which plants we need to protect if any. We’ve planted s lot of young hibiscus. I I know they are supposed to be hardy but maybe being their first year they need protection. The same with the lavender borders, justed planted this year mainly I think the English variety
I’ve never protected either hibiscus or lavender. How far north/east are you @geoffrey_Croshaw ?
I normally bring in my (French) tarragon and forgot last year but it survived fine. I’m in Manche (50)
Thanks for the reminder, need to bring in my aloe vera!
When we lived in the Dordogne the number of plants people covered was quite extensive and included some hibiscus. The temperature did drop to -10. We’re living in the middle of the Charente at the moment so hoping the the temperatures here are not quite so extreme. We’ve been pleasantly surprised so far
I think quite sensible to cosset younger plants. They won’t have got their roots down, so can be more susceptible than older plants. We generally surround things with straw.
I’m in 24 and never covered any of my hibiscus and never lost one, even the winter we had -12. I have about 3 pots I do bring in.
I think it depends what kind of hibiscus. There’s one called a “dinner plate” hibiscus which sends up fresh stems each spring on which the current year’s blooms flower. We’ve got one and certainly the recommendation from our local garden centre was to give it a good deep mulch at the onset of winter. Maybe not necessary, but we do - Lot et Garonne - we have had -18 one year and our garden is quite exposed - we get strong winds from the north across the fields around us.
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I’ve seen those and quite fancy one. I’m rubbish at watering though so a bit put off by them needing to be kept damp. I’d probably kill the poor thing!! We regularly have 3 months without rain!
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I know the feeling! We too can go weeks without rain and this year I just had to let the borders cope as best they could as we had virtually nothing from April onwards. So I’ll only find out next year whether it’s survived. Not an ideal choice of plant but useful if it works as my roses are very subdued in July August when we have gite guests, so the hibiscus is a nice splash of colour. This has made me realise I need to mulch it really well now as the ground (finally) is pretty well soaked.
I’ve got the more usual hibiscus and they are tough as old boots and babies spring up everywhere which I then pot up - not need to do anything special with them - they are throwing out new leaves at the moment as if it’s spring - crazy!
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I’ve got quite a few ‘normal’ hibiscus and I have never given them a drop of water. This years drought plus the heat was, I think, the worst so far. They did struggle in August and the flowers dried up but if I’d given them the odd bucket of water I’m sure they would have done their normal wonderful flowering all summer long. As soon as there was a bit of rain they all came back. I have a couple of babies that have popped up, if you want I can post them to you. They are so hardy, I’m sure if you pot them over winter they’ll survive.
Those dishplate hibiscus love water, I think their natural habitat is swamp or marsh, I had 5 and have lost 4 to cold/drought/ black fingers.
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Your fingers sound like mine 
! I might try 1 just outside the door where I can dump the salad wash water each day! What do you find easy in our climate?