Hibiscus: Hibiscus heterophyllus: native Australian hibiscus, 1 by cestrum_SEQ

cestrum_SEQ wrote:
Mike, I've been in touch with Pete from Pete's Hobby Nursery, who says he only grows his plants from cuttings, not seeds.
He says that Colleen Keena does a lot of the hybridising, although he doesn't think she actually sells seeds. 'Some outfit' in the WA apparently sells seeds--or did--but Pete couldn't remember who they were. BTW, he said that H. heterophyllus hybridised readily with 'whatever was around', so wasn't surprised to hear that I had seeds on my Abbey's Tangerine. (Named after his granddaughter, he said, although he agreed that the colour was not really tangerine. We both agreed it was quite lovely, though :-) ) And, when I mentioned the lovely soft--no prickles--on Barambah Creek, Pete told me that some bloke here had already started hybridising it with the prickly cultivars to breed out the prickles. So there's lots of interesting work happening here--mainly by enthusiasts, although there's at least one man from an educational institution (not specified)--but that's no help to you in the US ... Colleen's not answering her phone so I'll let you know what she says when I get in touch with her. (I hope she doesn't think I'm stalking her!!)

Meanwhile, here's Brick Red with H. schizopetalus. Like chalk and cheese ...

PS WA = Western Australia.
Bloke - guy

This message was edited Oct 14, 2011 2:25 PM