This is one I sent y'all, Dee & Deb. First time its bloomed since I cut it back. Know this was put out by Hines Nursery but don't know if it is one of Barry Schlueter's hybrids. Realized I had left it out of your box Wilfred after I returned from the PO but you will get one. Promise!!! Only thing new blooming but its got pink so I like it. Have a great week everyone.
Judy
It sure is pretty Judy, and a most excellent late in the day photo. You captured it's colors perfectly.
Jon
Thanks, Jon. It is usually fuller but I guess the cooler weather makes a difference to the blooms & I think I like this semi-double better. Oh, heck, I like anything that blooms. Think I may have a seed pod from my pollination. Sure looking like it. Heard where someone on IHS had 49 seed in one pod. Got the name taped around it like you suggested & try not to look at it...very often. Did you register your Toucan Tango? You should. It's really pretty.
Judy
The weather can make a difference. Believe it or not, the number of buds on a plant can have an influence in the size of a bloom. Some people will pick off many/most of the buds prior to a hibiscus show if they think the plant is going to bloom. The reason they do this is to get the large sized blooms. When you pick off many of the plants buds, all the energy goes into just the few that you've left on the plants. That is what some do to get the mammoth sized blooms. I'm not going to lose blooms by picking off buds, but to each his/her own.
LOL Glad you liked the "taping the name" idea around the bud. I hope you get a viable pod with some good seeds. LOL You can look at it. Just don't stare at it too often. It might get nervous. I did my first cross of the season on Saturday and did the same thing. Having the piece of paper there lessens the chance that I'll remove it by accident. I did that a few times in the past.
I asked about registering my name, but there really isn't a way to do it at the moment. The American Hibiscus Sociey website is temporarily "offline" right now when it comes to that issue. The only other option is to register the hibiscus through the International Hibiscus Society out of Australia. It's kind of complicated at the present time. I did take a cutting from Toucan Tango and grafted it. The graft worked...so now I have two Toucan's. Once these two grow some more then I'll take more cuttings. Such a long process duplicating/multiplying from the original plant. Ugh
But, it is a really good thing to get more plants out there. The better known hybridizers like to get cuttings out to a lot of people & if they lose their original they will have a chance to get it back. How many seed did you have & did you plant them all? Think it was Patrick that said he had one with 2 seeds. What parents did you use? Haven't tried grafting yet. Are you using a certain plant to graft onto? Still working on cuttings & need to find out when our next faze is from Wilfred.
I believe I had four seeds and planted them all in the same container, just hoping one of them would germinate. I only recall "Tigerama" as the host parent plant, but can;t remember what I crossed it with. I thought I'd remember, but I didn't. That's why I started labeling them with paper strips and tape. I only intend to do a couple of crosses each winter so that I don't overwhelm myself with too much to take care of.
I use "Pride Of Hankins" hibiscus plants for grafting. They are sold by members in our local hibiscus chapter for a dollar, or less, per plant. The advantage of grafting is you know you're going to get a plant that grows well, with a strong root system. The advantage of growing from cuttings is that you don't have to hunt around and buy root stock plants. You also need extra space, and have to take care of root stock plants until you use them. Not all hybrids will grow best on their own roots. Sometimes you'll find a new hybrid grows much better on a root stock plant. I can see that my grafted "Toucan Tango" is going to grow better on a root stock plant. It's growing faster on the root stock plant. Grafting is a bit tricky at first. It's all about practice, practice, practice.
