I wish I knew what variety Hirts Nursery really sent me. I have huge amounts of seed (F2 seed if my mail-order plants were hybrids or chimera).
Hirts SAID they were Lavatera thuringiaca 'Barnsley', but they never looked bicolor at any point.
From reading, I guess real 'Barnsley' is a "periclinal chimaera" of the cultivar 'Rosea', (and something else??). It can revert to plain 'Rosea' under stress, and I suppose my tiny tiny plugs were stressed before I moved them outside and they had a chance to flower.
But I would guess that seed collected fom a "chimera" would be at least as variable and untrue to the parent as F2 seed from an F1 hybrid parent.
I don't know: would you like any seeds from whatever-it-is?
P.S. This bush is totally perennial for me. I cut it down to 6" every winter, but they have come back for me 2 years now. I'm Zone 8, and what I read says they're hardy to Zone 5 or so.
