Hoty Winners

Tahitian Purple Splendor was awarded the IHS HOTY, Hibiscus of the Year, for 2004 with 53.94 votes received. It was bred and entered by Richard Johnson, from Tahiti. Here we provide you some of the photos and supplemental Data submitted to the HPOJ, HOTY Panel Of Judges, upon which they based their votes to select the eventual winner.ahitian Princess was awarded the IHS HOTY, Hibiscus of the Year, for 2003. It was bred and entered by Richard Johnson, (Tahiti). It has an extra large bloom, measuring 8-9 inches and was made from the cross of Grand Hyatt x Silver Memories. Here we provide you some of the photos and supplemental data submitted to the HPOJ, HOTY Panel Of Judges, upon which they based their votes to select the eventual winner.

Our congratulations go to Richard for winning this IHS HOTY competition. We thank the hybridizers who entered candidates in this program, in this case at their own expense. We thank the evaluators who grew the plants and provided the photos and Data. We thank Nina Bjelovucic, the IHS HOTY coordinator, for her tireless efforts in collecting this information from the trialing stations and passing it to the HPOJ. We of course thank the judges and most of all we thank the membership for participating in the initial SOTY selections, which form the core of the IHS HOTY Program. In this respect the IHS is unique in that the membership and affiliates are able to vote on what they consider to be the most beautiful of the candidates presented, after which the HPOJ narrows the field based upon their expert evaluation of the candidates chosen by the membership.

The top four candidates were selected from a field of 14 , and the one with the most points was selected as the IHS SOTY, Seedling Of The Year. Tahitian Cherry Blossom received that honor as the IHS 2004 SOTY, while Topaz Glory X Fifth Dimension was third and Tahitian Purple Splendor was fourth. However, trialing has shown Tahitian Purple Splendor to be the best of the candidates tested.

Tahitian Purple Splendor

Tahitian Purple Splendor

Tahitian Purple Splendor

Tahitian Purple Splendor in a pot

Tahitian Purple Splendor

Tahitian Purple Splendor

From Richard Johnson

As the hybridizer, I am, of course, once again very honored that one of my seedlings, Tahitian Purple Splendor, has been selected as the IHS HOTY for the year 2004. In my climate Tahitian Purple Splendor blooms well, has very little variation in color and the form is always impeccable. I hope others will find it to be as fine a flower in their gardens as it has been in mine.

Tahitian Cherry Blossom won second place with 53.23 votes and entered by Richard Johnson

Joland Gommer was third with 52.26 votes and entered by Hendrik Gommer

Early American was fourth with 52.04 votes and entered by Larry Johnson

IHS HOTY Voting Template 2004 Candidates