Viewing post #3087216 by MoeOC

MoeOC said: Thank you for that info about hibiscus hybrids not self-pollinating. I didn't know that. Many years ago I collected seed from a large pink hibiscus that I admired that was growing in a public garden. I grew about 6 plants from that seed. Five of them were pink, and one was a large white one. I had to move, so I only have two left ( pink ones). Each year after blooming I've eagerly waited and watched for them to produce a seed pod, but they never did. Maybe I'll try planting a different variety, and see if they'll pollinate. If not, maybe I'll try to reproduce them by cuttings. Thanks for the info about the lack of self-pollination. I wonder, though, how the original plant that I collected the seed from had managed to produce so much fertile seed.

I just want to add an updateto my previous post. Last Fall, for the first time, one of those pink hibiscus plants I'd grown many years ago from seed, actually did produce one seed pod. I was surprised, as it hadn't ever before produced a seed pod, though it blooms annually. There are no other hibiscus plants nearby (except for the other pink one, it's seed sibling, that I'd planted at the same time.) And so it must have either self-pollinated, or been pollinated by its sibling, which bloomed at the same time.

Anyway, I collected the seeds and planted them in a little plastic container, which I left outside all winter, where it was occasionally covered by snow, and was subjected to several cycles of freezing and thawing. Right now (April), I'm waiting to see if there's any germination.