Pavonia is a cousin of the hibiscus. I was able to acquire seeds of two more species of the Pavonia, P. missionum, P. lasiopetala but am having difficulty getting them to germinate .. I'm going to resow them again probably this weekend.

This is the P praemorsa - the flowers are about the size of a quarter:

Anne, I sure do like the bright yellow color. Very nice.

I purchase a Pavonia lasiopetala, at the Master Gardeners plant sale a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks James .. I discovered the Pavonia genus last year starting with the P. praemorsa and was delighted to find someone local with some seeds of other species I didn't have. Now if I could just get them to germinate! The praemorsa seeds I acquired essentially sprouted when I showed them dirt!

That sounds wonderful. Good luck.

Anne, I got P. missionum to sprout the 2nd time I tried them using a Hydrogen peroxide pre-soak, 1/2 teaspoon in a cup of water for an hour or so. Only 2 of 5 seeds sown germinated, but I will take it.

Thanks for the info .. I'll give it another shot.

Aha--maybe that's why my lasiopetalas haven't sprouted. I winter-sowed them a month or so ago. Thanks, Alana.

Anne, here the Pavonias will bud in early spring, but if it's too cold for them, the buds don't open to flower and instead go to seed. It's called cleistogamous...produces seed without opening. I wonder if those are early seeds and possibly aren't viable? I'll ask the next time I'm at the nursery that sells natives.

I'm very familiar with cleistogamic plants unfortunately. I've had Morning Glory's do that as well as Violets.

Anne, I wasn't trying to be a smarty pants. I picked quite a few buds off my Pavonia hastata this morning. I was asking if you thought the seeds might sprout because I would send them to you.

In my experience, cleistogamic seeds are just as fertile and I've germinated many.

I've also noticed that Pavonia seems to have 2 seed coats!

Forgot to add thanks for your offer but I just received a bunch of P. hastata seedlings.

Pavonia missionum, worth the effort, I think.

That's beautiful! Love that color.