Hibiscus: How are your hardy Hibiscuses this year?, 1 by Michael_Ronayne

Michael_Ronayne wrote:

marie_kap wrote:I was driving along and I saw all these wild Hibiscus growing, so I stopped and gathered a few brown pods. I figure since mother nature would be dropping them now, why cant I ?

Marie,

The first commercial grower of hardy Hibiscus in North America, for which there is documentation, was William F. Bassett of Hammonton, New Jersey, which is 15 miles from your home. The original Hibiscus stock was collected about 1880 in triangular marsh alongside the Absecon Railroad Station. The location exists today but last summer I failed to find a single Hibiscus growing in the Absecon Marsh. Here is an aerial view of the Absecon Marsh in Google Maps:

http://goo.gl/maps/mXLBc

You can find additional information at these links.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=8564791
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=7979821

The Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Absecon, NJ is several miles north and east from the Absecon Railroad Station and is a reconstructed wetlands and the Hibiscus are the pure pink form of Hibiscus moscheutos subsp. palustrus which may not be native to New Jersey.

During the first week of August 2012 I was collecting Hibiscus seeds and plants about the Cape May peninsula where most of the populations appear to be native Hibiscus moscheutos. I did find one introduced population of Hibiscus moscheutos subsp. palustrus which are easy to identify because 95% plus of the pink flowers have no red-eye.

For information on germinating Hibiscus seeds see the following post:

Dr. Deno’s Seed Germination Books are now in Public Domain.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=8182755

Can you provide me with the location where you collected your seeds? Can you describe the color distribution of the flowers and did you take any photographs which you can post?

Mike
p.s. Attached are pictures of a Hibiscus moscheutos marsh at the tip of Cape May NJ, where H. moscheutos with red veined leaves are prevalent but the green form is also present.