New to hibiscus - have seeds, now what?

My best buddy has hibiscus in her garden. She saved me some seed but neither one of us really know what to do with it. She thinks I should start it in pots inside this winter. I think I don't have a clue and she is just guessing.
This almost has to be the hardy variety. The house they bought 2 years ago had been empty for quite some time and these come up every year.
So, have seeds, now what??

Hello Enidcandles! Nice to see someone who lives close to me! I have several hardy hibiscus plants. If I were you, I would save the seeds until spring. That way you won't have to deal with the plants through the winter. In the spring I can tell you how to germinate them. Its real easy. You can either start early in like, say, March, or you can plant them directly into the ground. Your choice. Oh. I guess I should ask. Do you know if her hibiscus is hardy or tropical?

Bubba1

I have no clue which they are. One is white with a hot pink center and the other is pink with a hot pink center. These have to be an old variety. The woman who owned the house previously had planted them many years ago. She had been in the house 40 plus years and was elderly when she died. The garden had not been tended to in years so what ever they are, they are tough!

I am glad to know they can be planted directly in the ground! I am too lazy for the starting them in the house thing. Intentions are always good, then I forget about water and plants are dead.

Nice to have someone kinda close to ask questions though. There don't seem to be masses of Okies on here.
Lori

No, there aren't many okies. And there seems to be a lot of misconceptions among the rest of the gardeners all over the country about northwest oklahoma.

If the lady who used to live in the house planted them then they are most likely hardy hibiscus. A tropical variety wouldn't make one winter here. Also, take note of where she had the plants planted ( in the back of the garden or the front). You'll need to know how tall it gets so you'll know where to plant it. Some varieties of hardy hibiscus get 8 feet tall and some as short as 2 feet tall.

Keep your seeds in a ziploc bag in your refrigerator for the winter. It keeps the seeds fresh, plus there are some varieties of plants that need the winter simulation.

ok since this thread was already started is there a difference in starting the hardy varieties and the tropical ones, I got a ton of seeds and noticed that some that say hardy are only hardy to zone 7 and up...I'm so confused!

I don't know that there is a difference in how you germinate the seeds, just in whether they will survive outside in the winter. I did germinate some hibiscus seeds last winter that were not cold hardy to my area. One was a mary poppins hibiscus and the other was the blue hibiscus. I just gave away my mary poppins hibiscus, and I couldn't find the blue hibiscus to dig up. Personally, I have since sworn off buying anything more that I can't plant in the ground and leave for winter. Dealing with the fungus gnats last winter nearly caused me a nervous breakdown. It was horrendous! I now have several varieties of the hardy hibiscus and find them just as beautiful as the tropical.

Are all of your seeds labeled?

nope it was a baggy of about 1000 seeds said mixed tropical and hardy hibiscus, plus I got some I know are tropical and some that say hardy but only to zone 7... and I have 5 teenagers who tried to "help" here a few weeks ago when I got sick and decided anything with the word "hibiscus" could be dumped together in one ziploc sandwich baggy.... gee how fun for me, so when I start growing these expect alot of photos with taglines that say please help name me you'll know why...LOL

I'd definitely wait until spring to germinate. That's a lot of seeds! You will be able to tell what they are when you look at the leaves and especially when you see the blooms. The hardy hibiscus blooms tend to be huge! You poor thing. How frustrating!

frustrating? they did the same thing to the poppies and the daylilies and the hostas, I cought them before they mixed up the birds of paradise...needless to say I will be playing guess what it is all spring, oh well at least I'll have something to do to work out my frustrations...LOL

How old are your children?

they are girl 12, then boys 13, 14, 15, and 19

You know, although I can't imagine my youngest son even noticing I had seeds it does sound like something he would do. (He's now 21) I had to remodel my bathroom because one Saturday morning he took and bath, and when he was getting out of the tub decided to use the bar at the top of the soap dish holder, which was built in to the wall, to push up on to get out of the tub. Pulled it right out of the wall. Had a big hole in my wall. You could see boards and insulation. Then there was the day he called me at work to ask me if his cell phone had insurance ( his BRAND NEW JUST GOTTA HAVE $150 PHONE!!!) because he went to the lake with his girlfriend and walked into the lake with the phone still in his shorts pocket. When I began hyperventilating, he decided to comfort me with "But the keys to my car didn't fall out!". There was also the constant irritation of opening the refrigerator door to find the ring that comes on a brand new gallon of milk pulled off the new gallon but thrown back into the refrigerator! Or checking the front door every night before I went to bed to find yes, he had locked the door after he came in but hey, lets invite the robbers and murderers in because he left his keys in the doorknob! Every time! I could go on and on.

Wow bubba1 - I think are children are related. Although, my one and only child, and male mind you, is only 18. We have just gone through a whole new set of experiences with him. At least he is finally (knock on wood) the point of burning the house down - again. He didn't burn it down but his room was completely destroyed and the rest of the house was heavily smoke damaged. Nothing a month of scrubbing, painting, cleaning and replacing carpet couldn't take care of.
His latest, he has a 9 mo. old son that lives with us. He has temporary custody, waiting to see what happens at the big hearing.
He is a senior this year at Drummond. Until he got custody, he was perfectly heathy!! He went to school the first two days, had a sore throat, went to Dr., took meds blah..blah..
ends up in ER. He had absesses behind both tonsils, had emergency surgery the next day - it was so bad they had to do a trach because they couldn't get the tube down.
6 weeks later had tonsils out, 10 days after that began to bleed heavily - another emergency surgery. He just returned to school today.
Somewhere during the first surgery and the last, he ran a stop sign and of course got a ticket. The officer asked him if there was anything in the car he should know about. His response "I don't know, let me look". He looks around and finds his buddies flexeril and tells the officer "yep, my friend left his flexeril here" and hands them to the officer.
Now, being 18, neither of them are bright enough to have had them in a bottle. Nope, in a cigarette celophane. More good stuff to deal with. I still don't know what charges he is facing for sure, have the attorney working on that one.

And now you know why I started digging in the dirt. He doesn't go outside more than he has to, it is too cool for the baby so no one bothers me there. The only other option was the bathroom and you can only stay in there so long.

Yep. Used to try to hide in the bathroom. Jordan would actually answer the phone, stand outside the bathroom door to holler at me and tell me "telephone", and I would open the door, toilet flushing and all, to find him standing there with the cordless phone in his hand! Most embarrassing!!!!

How'd your son set his room on fire?

Smoking. We were headed to my parents house for a belated family Christmas. Apparently, he had an ashtray in his room and snuck a smoke once in awhile. This particluar day, he snuck a smoke AND tried to hide the evidence. He put out the cigarette, tossed the contents of the ashtray in the waste paper basket and put the ashtray away.
I have no clue why this one day he actually put something away - but he did.
We got the call at my parents house. The neighbors said the house was on fire - but the fireworks were cool. Of course, he had a stash of fireworks left over from 4th of July.
I really, really love him.

I know how you feel. I love my Jordan to pieces. And he is good to the core.

So. Did this 'cause him to lose his desire for smoking? Ha! ha!

that would be the 15 yo if there is a way to get in trouble he finds it, it's to the point that if the other kids hear police sirens they ask him what he did and start hollering here he is! here he is! Come arrest him...I love them I really do

Nope - still smoking! The child drives me crazy with worry.
William would be the child to hear the sirens, run to the police car, ask what was going on and flat out admit to whatever it was. Not that there is any shame in always telling the truth - but holly cow, does he have to tell Everything??

Guess where Jordan works? Just guess. Police department. Yep. And he's good at it too! He's a dispatcher. And my oldest, Chris, is a police officer. Just proof ladies, they do grow up and mature! Although, I must say, Christmas before last, just as I finished decorating my yard, I was standing in the driveway talking to both of them. Chris was staring at my inflatable carousel. Its 8 foot high by 8 foot wide. Santa and his elves are on the inside riding reindeer around and around. He looks at me and says, "Can I get in it?" Jordan started laughing and said, "That's what I was thinking!"

Oh, my---there is hope. At least kinda. William has decided he wants to take on law school. He is a bright kid and would probably make an awesome attorney - but... What else can he mess up before we get to that point. I am not sure if they file felony charges that he can even make law school.
Time will tell! As Grandma Morrow always said - "God takes care of orphans and idiots". William ain't to orphan.

Glad to hear your boys are doing well. I'm not sure I wouldn't want to ride the reindeer with them though.

William will do well in law school mom. Right now he's just testing how it works from the other side. This way he can say he's an "experienced" lawyer!

LOL bubba1 that was funny....in this case I hate to say this about my step son but he acts like a Ted Bundy in training, I refuse to be alone with him anymore and the rest of the kids demanded that dad put locks on thier bedroom doors. so we are past fires from smoking...and lie, he lies about EVERYTHING

I am sorry to hear that. It must be very difficult to deal with and heart-breaking for his father. You know, on that note I do have a funny story that relates. My first husband, Chris's father (Chris is my oldest) cheated on me and left me for another woman when Chris was 2. The "other woman" had a son. Growing up, the ex-husband treated Chris, who was a good kid and stayed home all the time, like crap. The other son he coddled, babied, and defended to anyone who might try to tell him (Larry) the kid was devious. When the boy got in high school he got into the wrong crowd, got into drugs and stole money from Larry. Stole Larry's credit card and ran it up thousands of dollars. Broke Larry's heart. The boy eventually went to prison for breaking and entering. At the time, Chris was a lieutenant at the sheriff's department here in Woodward (Larry and the boy lived in McAlester, Oklahoma). The joke was Larry had one on both sides of the bars. And sadley the boy he treated like crap was the boy who turned out good.

You know, QVC used to sell alarms you could attach to your doors so that when someone opened it the alarm would go off. Could put them on all your bedroom doors!

our problem he wasn't raised with us, grandma raised him and she is an evil, vile, vindictive.....well you know where that was going...she'd drug the kid to make him go to sleep then beat he couldn't wake up the next day, then give him pills to wake him up....and it was a nasty mess trying to get custody

Oh! The poor thing! Prayer and counseling, and many years of it! To be so young. It would definitely warp how you saw life and the world! And I bet he doesn't know how to receive love, does he?

honestly I'm not sure this kid cares either way, it's a long story just dmail me about it

Will dmail you tomorrow. Its getting late and my body is beginning to complain!