Mystery Hibiscus (or “Mrs. Jimmy Spangler")
Joelle said around lunch time on October 30, 2007
I bought this plant without really knowing what the bloom looked like. It looked kind of ratty when I bought it and the only bloom dangling from it was ragged and dead, so I’ve been waiting patiently for it to re-root and bloom so I could see what it really looked like. And behold… there it is. It really is that bright, I’ve done no processing on it and it totally matches my blog! Weird.
The label on the pot it came in said “Jimmy Springer”, but I couldn’t find anything on that. But a Google search brought up "Mrs. Jimmy Spangler" and enough, that’s what it is. Turns out, by coincidence, one of my lovely Flickr contacts, The Fuzzball, had a photo of one in her stream!
This begs the question: who the hell is Mrs. Jimmy Spangler?
Moxie Design Studios™
from Kansas
wow! that is gorgeous.
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
Thank you!
from Vancouver, BC
I can never resist and good research challenge. Will the real Mrs. Jimmy Spangler please stand up!
So here’s what I think - I think she’s the wife of the inventer of the first Hoover vacuum cleaner - James Murray Spangler. One can only assume he’s Jimmy to his friends.
Okay, that’s probably not the answer to the mystery. Still - the 15 minutes of research did yield one fun thing. In a hibiscus forum I found this statement - “Hi,your Mrs Jimmy Spangler looks real pretty.” Which, for some reason, I find highly entertaining.
My father and his friends, growing up, had a goofball imaginary friend (that they would confuse substitute teachers with) called Jakey Spangler (pronounced Schpangler or Schpengler). Dunno how this helps, just thought I’d mention it.