chickhill said:Keith what a beautiful Rose of Sharon. I grow/have grown my own from seed. Always can't wait to see what blooms will look like. My best is one like Strawberry Smoothie.

Do you have a photo to share? 😊

keithp2012 said:I finally got to grow seeds from my plant, and I am finding variegated seedlings from it Its amazing that it passes the trait and not only plain green.

Your variegated plant is an interesting specimen. Have you tried using the plant as a pollen parent to another Syriacus to see if the crosses are also heavily variegated?

I also dabble in Syriacus crossbreeds, my goals are more for incorporation of extreme hardiness(Herbicide Toxicity resistance) using century old cultivars who no longer produced pods and deformed specimens of Syriacus that breed true from seed. About 3 years ago though I took a step in the alternate direction obtaining a new seedling which bloomed for the first time this a few months ago. Using my Syriacus pollen I managed to obtain two pods of three pollinated from an actual interspecies hybridization rather than the normal path of varietal crossbreeding. So far the pods are growing rapidly and I will soon know if 22 years of effort is paying off.

From your example, I can see that there may be quite some treasures if the pods do not abort and the seeds germinate.

@Mode

Wow I'm very impressed! Your work sounds very interesting, you should post a topic about it with photos, I am very interested in seeing your work and to know more about the hybrids you have and flower designs.

I haven't crossed with my pollen intentionally because I find it hard to get all the pollen off the seed parent I end up damaging the female part. but I do have other syriacus planted next to the variegated one.

One is labeled 'lucy' but doesn't have the double flower, however it's got that deep red color and some petal growth by the pollen. It sets seed and is next too my variegated specimen.

Then I have variegated 'Purpureus Variegatus' that the flower doesn't fully open or set seed. It gets pollen but no female part, but any attempt at using it to pollinate another flower has failed. Might be worth you trying, and to get the flower to open but keep variegation.

Then I have 'danica' a beautiful double rose of Sharon that's light pink and white with normal green leaves. It has pollen but no female part so no seed, again would make a great plant if it could.

Last I have 'sugar tip', double pink flowers with light variegated leaves. One branch did set seed but seed was sterile. I do suspect that the pollen might of fertilized another of my old rose of Sharon, perhaps creating my variegated plant as it was from that one!

I have old rose of Sharon shrubs over 30 years old, they get open pollinated but they have resisted weed killer and bloom profusely. One is pure white the other reddish like 'lucy' but plant is over 30 years old so can't be 'lucy'.

I'd like to hear more from you and I could send seeds to you come fall if you'd like. When my plants bloom I can send photos I bet you'd be able to tell me if what I have is rare or valuable

I will probably make a thread showing the growth events providing the seed pods continue to form and I can get the seeds to germinate. I will have to get some pics of the pollen parents though.

Mode said:I will probably make a thread showing the growth events providing the seed pods continue to form and I can get the seeds to germinate. I will have to get some pics of the pollen parents though.

Great I can't wait!

@Mode did you take those photos?

keithp2012 said:3 years ago I had many Rose of Sharon seedlings growing and spotted this


It looked unusual, but I figured I'd keep it to see if it gained color. A few months after planting it looked like this.


I was amazed at how beautiful it was! Now, 3 years later I have a gorgeous, highly variegated Rose of Sharon, with green,yellow, and white splashed on the leaves. Up until now I've had no blooms, but now have buds ready to open any day!





As you can see, the bud coloring is also variegated! The more variegated the leaves near it, the more white in the bud!

I can't wait to post photos when they open and of the gorgeous leaf colors! I've not seen anything like this, not even in stores, and it should be fertile and set seed so I'm hoping to get more variegated plants and try and root cuttings of it to give others.

Hi Keith we have had Rose Of Sharon's forever and while weeding today i found this your Rose Of Sharon under our hedges. Can you tell me if you think it's like the one you have? It was a very pleasant surprise to find it growing wild there.

Michaelte78 said:






Hi Keith we have had Rose Of Sharon's forever and while weeding today i found this your Rose Of Sharon under our hedges. Can you tell me if you think it's like the one you have? It was a very pleasant surprise to find it growing wild there.

Yours is missing the yellow coloring, but is variegated and is a very special find! You should weed around it so it can grow larger and bloom!

Hello Keith, do you believe it is best to transplant the variegated Rose Of Sharon i found under my hedges?

Michaelte78 said:Hello Keith, do you believe it is best to transplant the variegated Rose Of Sharon i found under my hedges?

I think it might be too risky at this size. Best to trim the hedges away from it so it has ample light and below it no weeds.

If you can find fish emulsion fertilizer a little will help yours grow bigger

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That's not the same as my plant.

Keith
I know this is an older thread
How is your ''one in a million'' doing ?
Looks like a beautiful plant
do you have a lot of off spring? and are they like the parent plant ?

Gardengus, thank you for bringing this back up.

Keith, I have been sitting on ours for
6 years and this year she surprised us with deep rose purple and red centers. We don't
have any that is close to this bloom.

karmahappytoes said:Gardengus, thank you for bringing this back up.

Keith, I have been sitting on ours for
6 years and this year she surprised up with deep rose purple and red centers. We don't
have any that is close to this bloom.

Looks like it might do better directly planted in the ground, the plant is showing stress in the leaves.

As far as mine it's doing wonderfully! Yes some offspring are just like the parent plant.

Is this waking up for the season yet?

I received several small Rose Of Sharon plants and one has two variegated leaves. I hope it continues like it did for you!

keithp2012, I took your advice and planted ours in the ground in February when it was dormant. Can't wait to see what she will do. Thanks for the advice.

mo6800 said: I received several small Rose Of Sharon plants and one has two variegated leaves. I hope it continues like it did for you!

Fingers crossed it will for you 😊

karmahappytoes said: keithp2012, I took your advice and planted ours in the ground in February when it was dormant. Can't wait to see what she will do. Thanks for the advice.

Keep me posted