Cold Hardy Hibiscus coccineus (Texas Red Star)?

In the fall of 2009 I purchased two Hibiscus coccineus (AKA Texas Red Star) with a cultivar name of “Blaze Starr” from a north New Jersey garden center at a yearend closeout sale. According to the plant tag (see attached photograph). H. coccineus “Blaze Starr” is hardy to Zone 4. The following grower is the source of Hibiscus coccineus “Blaze Starr”:

Cavano’s Perennials
6845 Sunshine Avenue
Kingsville, Maryland 21087
Phone: 410-592-8077
Fax: 410-592-9510
http://www.cavanos.com/sol_home.php#Native

Under less than ideal conditions, I planted one the of the “Blaze Starr” Hibiscus in my Zone 6B garden and the second in my daughter’s garden 10 miles to the north. Both plants made it through the 2009-2010 winter and flowered during the summer of 2010. My “Blaze Starr” was more prolific reaching a height of almost 7 feet, with three stalks, and producing many flowers from which I was able to collect seed pods, several of which are hybrids with other Hibiscus species in which I am interested. I was also able to clone the “Blaze Starr” from cuttings without any difficulty. The “Blaze Starr” is unremarkable and looks exactly like a normal red H. coccineus.

I also have both red and white H. coccineus seedlings, from an online seed seller, which did not flower this year. I will have to see if they make it through the coming winter and flower in 2011.

I know the “Blaze Starr” can survive in Zone 6B. Is anyone else growing “Blaze Starr” or other H. coccineus outside normal range of this species and if you are, can you share that information with the DG membership? I am very interested in any red or white H. coccineus which can survive in Zone 6B or colder. If the grower’s information is correct “Blaze Starr” should be able to survive into Canada.

Mike

Mike i love your find, i've never heard of this one.. last year i planted about 20 red texas stars seedlings, they were all about 17" high when winter came, the place i had them planted became the spot in which we put all the snow we shoved off the patio.. Needless to say come spring they were all moldy when i checked a few of there roots.. This summer i tried seedlings again, but in a full sun garden far away from any snow plies. There again about 18", i havent seen flowers yet on either years, so i guessing they dont flower first year.. I'm in 6b/ sometimes 6a.. I was going to bring them in but i though i would give this one last try outdoors.. If nothing came back i was going to start storing them for the winter.. But now with the new one you brought to my attention, maybe i will just switch to that one..
jen

I used coccineus several years ago, both the white and the red. It will not begin to survive winters in Northeastern Illinois. Since i have a hobby greenhouse I was able to keep them alive until I made crosses with all the other interspecific hibiscus I had collected. Plants from the first generation crosses are absolutely hardy here under all conditions. They have made huge tall plants.
The same is true of the hardiness of Californicus-lasciocarpus.
William

William,

From the USDA Zone Map it looks like you could be in either Zone 5B or 5A. Can you verify which one?

Did you ever have the opportunity cross the red and white Hibiscus coccineus and if you did, what were the resulting colors? Is red dominant or co-dominant resulting in pink?

Mike

William what did cross the coccineus with?? I would love to see pics if you have any.. I have grown them for 2 years first years died over winter and i'm sure this years will too.. So i have never even had a flower but i never knew you could cross them with anything other then themselves.. I love this site i learn so much.. I'm hoping to cross next year, I did about 5 this year and nothing came from them, I used a few types i have on my jazzberry jam since i though it wouldn't seed.. I had a baby aug 1st so this season was pretty hard for me to do much.. I was cutting down my castor bean plants to come to find that I had a seed pod on the back of my jazzberry jam.. Guess thats what happens when you just leave it to the bees lol... Only did get the one and it wasn't one i pollinated..
jen

If crossing red & white H. coccineus gave you pink, someone out there would be selling pink H. coccineus and I've never seen one. So I think it's highly unlikely you'd get pink by crossing the red with the white.

I would not dismiss the possibility of a pink Hibiscus coccineus just yet:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/193833/

For the record I am not convinced that this Hibiscus is a red-x-white Hibiscus coccineus hybrid but I am not sure what it is.

Mike

Jen,

For any non-mobile species to survive within its native range, it must be adapted to that range through its lifecycle. Let’s say that your Hibiscus coccineus can survive in your Zone as an adult but not as one year seedling. Unless you protect the seedling during the first year, it will never make it to the second year where is could survive. If you have enough plants, can you bring some inside this winter after they gave gone dormant? I have several tender Hibiscus which I plan to cover with sea hay for the winter and others which I will bring inside.

Clones grown from cutting appear to be running on a different clock and will bloom much earlier than the same species grown from seeds. I suspect that cold tolerance may have similar issues. My red and white Hibiscus coccineus seedlings are about the same size as yours and did not flower their first year. I lost my first crop of Hibiscus coccineus seedlings, which I started during the winter, when I put them out too early and had to start over after Memorial Day.

Mike

I do have enough to bring in the problem is i planted them all together in a foot circle so i dont want to break up the roots..

Mike,
I am in zone 4 or 5A. We get to 40 below here in winter, but I am on a bluff above Lake Michigan which makes it a little less violent.
Jen,
I crossed the coccineus with Crimson Wonder, Clown, Southern Belle, Disco Belle, Lord & Lady Baltimore, Ann Arundel, Fresno, Lester Regal, Blue River II, and a flat of Flemming Bros. seedlings from Bluebird Nursery. These were very hard to find in the days before the internet...27 years ago.
Lord & Lady Baltimore and the Disco plants grew here as biennials, dying out after two years. I also had laevis, palustris, militaris, lasciocarpus(Californicus).
I stopped breeding about a year after Moi Grande came out. It flowered small here.
I still have 60 plants from this experiment growing in my yard.
William

Oh wow i never knew the coccineus could be crossed.. Learn something new everyday.. I have luna rose, swamp mallows (pink with darker pink centers and white with dark pink centers), jazzberry jam, carafe grenache, and red texas star.. I plan to order more or plant seeds (undecided) this year.. I want old yella, plum crazy, copper king, turn of the century, royal gems, peppermint flare, summer storm, robert flemming, and fireball..
Just recieved some pure white seeds so I will also be giving them a try..

Now someone make a orange one, I'd be all set...

Jen,

The red color in hardy Hibiscus cultivates is derived from Hibiscus coccineus. The cold tolerant Hibiscus species were crossed to Hibiscus coccineus and the hybrids with the best red color were backcrossed to the cold tolerant Hibiscus. William mentioned his difficulties with Lord Baltimore and Lady Baltimore in his Zone; this is not surprising given that both of these cultivates have a large fraction of their ancestry from Hibiscus coccineus.

I will have 3 or 4 Hibiscus coccineus hybrids this year depending how the seeds mature in the next few weeks. My biggest problem was working with a newly transplanted Hibiscus coccineus which did not produce all the flowers I would have liked. The other problem was that my Hibiscus coccineus did not produce as many side branches as other cultivates so I could not take as many cuttings as I would have like. The choice was seed pods or clones and I picked seed pods. I have two clones of “Blaze Starr” with a 100% success rate. It is now too late to take more cuttings this year.

One of the reasons I am so interested in “Blaze Starr” is because if it really is cold tolerant, and not a typo of a plant tag, that creates new possibilities for breeding Hibiscus. To that end I have sent off some inquiries to growers about “Blaze Starr”.

Mike

I really hope it isn't a typo..
I tried to grow the lady baltimore but my seeds never came up..

Mike do you grow your hardy hibs indoors/greenhouse for the winter?? or do they go dromant? My hubby got me a grow light and I was thinking about maybe starting some or should i wait till maybe march/april?