Question - our apparently grafted hibiscus in Hawaii had one area that bore a really deep, deep red blossom, with sometimes a tiny single splash of white on one petal. I have never seen this blossom again anywhere. Does anyone know what variety that one would be?
Hey Ann B...........Gosh wish I could help you out. It would probably be really surprising the amount of hibs that aren't grown anymore and have gone by the wayside. I mean really, they have one now that is called Swamp Scum! How Gross. I have heard tell that there is one called Heaven Scent and it has a fragrance, now that is what they ought to be hydridizing! jazzy1
And 'Pond Scum'.. http://www.trop-hibiscus.com/index.html Not sure if the splash of white is in the right place or not. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hibiskus_at_Bhopal1.JPG
Katalina- Wow! those are some amazing hibiscus! But, no, none of them are the one I remember. It was a much deeper red, with more blue in the color I suppose, and also an extremely strong hue. Plus, it had only one tiny splash of white, somewhere on just one of its petals - my mom & I used to call it "the beauty spot," like the little applied moles Regency ladies used to wear to call attention to a perfect mouth or eyebrow! Think of the depth of color of a perfect garnet, but with a velvety softness instead of a sparkle.
The yellow was awesome Ann, Glad you liked the sites. The first link is great because my Hib is a tropical one and at the site you have the care for those.
i could not find anything in the tropical hibiscus handbook or any of the few sites i looked thru to see any reds that have just one petal with white there are some that have white in them but its all over. someone mentioned scented varietys there are several types that are scented but only when the flowers want to be. hibiscus arnottianus (wilders white ) is a white species that is scented sometimes it is close enough related its used as a rootstock for some of the grafted varietys and has been breed with tropical hibiscus. heaven scent has a scent sometimes smells sorta fruity but not all the time hilo island is listed as a scentred one it has not had scent for me yet and elephant ear will sometimes have a scent i donot know what triggers the scent in them wish i did cause elephant ear has a few times been realy really strong almost rose scented and had a good distance to the smell but only a few times since i have had it if you smell the flower up close some of them do have scent. wish i could have been more help
Perhaps the 'beauty spot' is caused by a mutation, or a Rembrandt tulip sorta thing. If so, this would make your hibiscus unique, and even more special. D'you have any photos of it? Sounds beautiful.
yup i did not think about it but it is possible it was a seedling someone planted and was unique to only that plant or it might have been the rootstock from a grafted one and the graft died so the rootstock grew and took over some of the rootstocks are seedlings some are rooted cuttings they graft to.
