Fireball X Moy Grande seedpods

Has anyone grown this cross out? and if so, are there any photos of the flowers anywhere online. I got four or five pods of this cross now and the pods are growing, one did dry and there are seeds in there. This is the first time I try crossing hibs and don't know how to germinate the seeds. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

I did notice the the pollen on most of the hardy hibiscus have spiny pollen and Moy Grande has a very smooth pollen, which could explain why the other Hardy Hibs accept the Moy Grande pollen. I may have another cross with Southern Bell X Moy Grande, but won't know for another two or three weeks, the pods seem to be staying on but I'll have to wait a little bit more. There have been many many flowers on all the Hardy Hibs here and I've tried to hand pollinate all of them with what I think is very little success. Moy Grande seems to be the only one making lots of seedpods.

Should I sow these seeds as soon as I can or wait till later in early Spring?

Thank you for any help you can give here, and I would love to trade for some Blue River seeds if anyone has some.

The Blue River II that I had has the roots very much alive but no stems whatsoever, so I don't know if it will come back at all. It is from last year and has not grown at all this year.

Antoinette

Antoinette,

I use the Deno Method to start Hibiscus seeds. I would start the seeds indoors 4 to 6 weeks before it is safe to put the seedlings out in your location. I have gotten into difficulties starting hardy Hibiscus seeds too early; tropical Hibiscus can be started at any time. 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/t/1137901/

Hibiscus Moy Grande is a first generation hybrid between the cultivar Hibiscus moscheutos 'Southern Belle' and the species Hibiscus grandiflorus. I have not found any indication as to which Hibiscus is the pollen and./or pod parent.

I have hybridized Hibiscus Moy Grande (pollen) with Hibiscus Blue River II (pod) but the results were not terribly interesting. The flower was a light pink with a washed-out red-eye.

This year I am growing the hybrids of Hibiscus Moy Grande (pollen) with Hibiscus Lord Baltimore (pod). I started the seedlings late and they are only a foot tall and wont bloom until next year. Right now the leaves resemble Hibiscus Moy Grande. Hibiscus Lord Baltimore is documented by its breeder as being pollen sterile on its own pollen and pollen of almost every other hardy North American Hibiscus. The pollen of Hibiscus Lord Baltimore will pollinate other Hibiscus, just not itself. I strongly suspect that the pollen tubes from Hibiscus Moy Grande are unusually long which may explain is 100% success rate pollinating Hibiscus Lord Baltimore. For additional information on Hibiscus hybrids see the following paper, which you should be able to obtain through a public or college library.

Genetic Affinities of the North American Species of Hibiscus Sect. Trionum
Dwayne A. Wise and Margaret Y. Menzel
Brittonia, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1971), pp. 425-437
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2805708

The results of attempting to hybridize Hibiscus grandiflorus with other Hibiscus species is reported in this paper. I am obtaining the similar results in my own little experiments. This paper is a must read for anyone hybridizing hardy Hibisus. The paper also goes into genetic lethals involving various Hibiscus hybrids.

Hardy Hibiscus must go through a cold cycle or they will not grow correctly. This is why it is very difficult to grown hardy Hibiscus in Southern Florida, it is not cold enough. Last fall, I started three Hibiscus Lord Baltimore clones indoors, from stem cutting and had them under 24-hour light. The Hibiscus bloomed all winter and in the Spring I set the Hibiscus out expecting great results. My three Hibiscus Lord Baltimore clones and several other hardy Hibiscus seedlings immediately started loosing all their leaves and for all appearances looked dead. The tropical Hibiscus which I set out did splendidly. When I took my hardy Hibiscus out of the 24-hour lighting, I was so kindly providing, they though winter had started.

One of the Hibiscus Lord Baltimore did sent up new growth and eventually bloomed as did several other hardy seedlings. I assumed that two of the Hibiscus Lord Baltimore were dead and went to through them out only to discover that the roots were still very green as they are to this day. I am going to let the Hibiscus Lord Baltimore clones go through a normal winter cycle, with extra protection, in the hope that they will be stimulated back into new growth. I have one reliable report of a hardy Hibiscus which skipped a full year, only to return to normal grown the second year.

According to http://PlantMaps.com/, you live in Zone 8b which may be dangerously too warm for some hardy Hibiscus during a mild winter.
http://PlantMaps.com/interactive-new-mexico-usda-plant-zone-hardiness-map.php?ZS=88047

Give your Hibiscus Blue River II a second chance with a little mulch to retain moisture; in the spring remove the mulch and hope the sunshine does its job.

I have a lot of Hibiscus Blue River II seeds from last year but I don’t like to exchange seeds of cultivars because they will never breed true to type. In the case of Blue River II the flowers will be white but many of the plants will not produce the same size flowers. I do have species seeds for Hibiscus grandiflorus and Hibiscus coccineus which should do well in your locations if you can maintain wet soil conditions.

I do have semi-tropical Hibiscus species seeds which will do fantastic in your location. Keeping them alive in New Jersey is a challenge.

Good luck,

Mike

Thank you Mike,

This is great information and just what needed to know. I'm in a 7/8 zone and we do get some frost time in my area, some years more than others. When you have a chance, please take a look at my hibs here on flicker where I save my photos in case my computer goes down: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40386602@N02/ I believe they start on the second page of my photostream. Anyway, almost all of the Hardy hiibiscus I purchased were all mislabled by the grower or by Lowes, I don't know which one, but they all said "Pink Elephant" and I know I got some Luna Swirls in there or ? When I noticed that the leaves were all different, I knew they would be different cultivars and was pleasantly surprised. I really like the fact that after this hard freeze we had this year, that they came back. I am in a very small tiny micro-climate where I even have two bing cherry trees that give some fruit, not a lot, but they are doing okay, maybe not great though. so our climate is unpredictable. Very high winds. I have the tall confederate rose staked, no blooms yet though.

Out of the 5 Hardy Hibs that I put in last year all are up and blooming, except the Blue River, which I think that the sun was being blocked by some taller plants and it never grew any stems. The sad thing is that I did root a cutting of Blue River and it was doing fine, until I pulled it out by mistake thinking it was a weed (it was tangled in with some species mgs) This year I got all those that said Pink Elephant about (7) more hardies, and I believe that none are pink elephant, and most are really kind of short, so I'm thinking they are from the Luna Series.

I just ordered a couple of Blue River plants, Fantasia, Jassberry, Party Favor, White Buddy Jewel, and one Turn of the Century.

We are having some work done outdoors so I can't get into the area that has the hibs this morning to do some crosses. I read in one of your posts or someone else's that the best temperature for crossing is between 70-90 degrees, after that the pollen dries out? I've been trying to get to them before it gets too hot here.

Thank you for all the information you have provided me and I sure will go and do some research and read the links your provided. It was very helpful and gave me an idea of when to expect flowers from seed sown plants. I was hoping that they would bloom the same year. I will start them in January on heat mats and lights and see if I can push the envelope. I don't have that many seeds anyway, I got the three or four pods on Fireball that are crosses. And lots of the Moy Grande seedpods, but they are selfed and I also helped with selfing it..lol. (just in case) but it does have lots of seedpods, I may try a few of the seeds for this one. I'm hoping there is still time to cross some of the others I have, I've been trying and only one other one seems to have accepted Moy's pollen.

I will grow out some of the crosses here and see what develops. All of this intrigues me and it will be interesting and to see what the flowers will look like.

THANK you again,

Antoinette