Hibiscus heterophyllus: native Australian hibiscus

Thought I'd post some pics of my native hibiscus, flowering now. These are brighter-coloured hybrids that DGs doesn't yet recognise as valid cultivars, although they're sold that way here in Australia.

Here are two cultivars of H. heterophyllus: 'Abbey's tangerine' at top and 'Brick Red' at bottom. The blooms are unscented, last only a day and the plant is prickly. But they're pretty!

Here's 'Brick Red' again. I love the colour although it is pink, not red.

This message was edited Oct 4, 2011 3:36 PM

Here's a photo of them both taken last year.

When you say DG doesn't recognize them as valid cultivars, do you just mean you couldn't find them in Plant Files? All that means is that nobody's added them to the database so you'd be free to do that if you'd like and then you can put your pictures in. They're very pretty!

I wanted to put the Abbey's Tangerine cultivar in Plant Files last year (i.e. create a new entry for it) , but this was the reply I received from DG:

We asked one of our Australian administrators to check his Australian resources and he was also unable to verify this cultivar of Hibiscus heterophyllus. Unfortunately this means that the entry doesn't meet our criteria for a PlantFile entry as I outlined above. We have removed the entry, but you are welcome to document the plant in your Dave's Garden Journal or Blog. Then if further information becomes available on it, we can reconsider its inclusion in PlantFiles.

Yes, they are pretty: I love their warm colours :-)

That is a beautiful flower!!

A side view of my Abbey's Tangerine (taken before the bloom opened fully).
Here are some good photos from a local site: http://hibiscushybrids.com/Native_Hibiscus.html

This message was edited Oct 5, 2011 12:40 PM

Cestrum_SEQ,

How cold tolerant is Hibiscus heterophyllus and has anyone tried to push the limits of this Hibiscus? I know it is rated for USDA Zones 10a and perhaps USDA Zones 9b with protection but sometimes these reports are too conservative.

Hibiscus heterophyllus has a Chromosome Number of 108 and quite a number of hybrids have been reported.

Cytotaxonomy of Some Australian Species of Hibiscus Sect. Furcaria
http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/BT9740141.htm
Hibiscus section Furcaria Hybrids
http://www.malvaceae.info/Genera/Hibiscus/FurcariaH.php

Have you had the opportunity to work with any hybrids of Hibiscus heterophyllus? Is Hibiscus heterophyllus is summer bloomer or a fall bloomer which takes advantage of the monsoons? This a very important issue when considering hybrids in Section Furcaria. By summer, I mean your summer. Also, is Hibiscus heterophyllus a day or night bloomer? Or to put it another way, at what time of the day do the flowers open?

Are there any native Australian Hibiscus which are more cold tolerant than others? There is a small but growing number of Hibiscus extremophiles in North America who keep trying to push the limits of the survivable of Hibiscus species. We have a number of semi-tropical Hibiscus surviving in USDA Zone 6 and are pushing the limits into Zone 5. I have reported on my work on Hibiscus grandiflorus in Zone 6 in DG and it now looks like there is a second unrelated line of Hibiscus grandiflorus which is also Zone 6 hardy so crossings are being planned for 2012. It is amazing how quickly you start considering the length of day/night cycles, precipitation and temperatures when you are growing a Hibiscus species out of their comfort zone. In the end, it becomes a race between the seeds ripening and the snow falling and many times the snows win but not always!

Mike

Mike, I've never considered the plant on a chromosonal level! Hibiscus are just a side interest for me, as my passion lies with scented plants. But the beautiful colours of a few have caught my fancy, and this is one of them. I'll give you what little info I've gleaned from my own short experience of growing them, but I think it would be worth your while to get in touch with the breeders on that link I posted as I imagine you could have some very informative correspondence with some of the dedicated breeders there :-)

1. A day flowerer; it usually opens from mid-morning and starts to shrivel by about 3pm.
2. Flowering starts in early spring, continues thru summer and peters out in autumn.
3. There is no actual monsoon here in the non-coastal subtropics: we get wet summers and dry/sunny winters. Most of spring is dry too: winter to mid-spring is actually our fire season. However, because I'm about 40km from the coast, the climate here is drier, with colder nights, than coastal areas. We often get light frosts in winter (zero to about minus 2degC, although in a bad year that might dip to minus 5C). The upside is that the winter days are dry and warm, about 18-22deg. C. Here's the record of temps for the closest weather station in mid-winter (July 2011): http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/201107/html/IDCJDW4002.201107.shtml. Note that despite the colder-than-average winter nights--or because of them--we had warmer-than-average winter days. (And now we're having a cooler-than-average spring!) No snow here. Ever.
4. These plants are growing in pots up against the western side of the house, to protect them from direct frost. Here they haven't suffered from the winter frosts at all, although the air temps at night would still have been just above freezing. I've been trying to grow a protective canopy since I moved here and have finally started to feel the benefits of it, but I think these plants could probably survive the light frosts that we get. However, remember that (1) the winter days here are still relatively warm or, put another way, the ground never gets a chance to freeze ; and (2) the heat here lasts for a solid 6 months, and the humidity during most of this time is high too.
5. There is generally less variation in the length of days throughout the year here than in my home town of Melbourne, as we're closer to the equator here (152.75E/27.61S). But the sun! The sun is *hot*--you can get sunburnt even in mid-winter.
6. Although I haven't kept any records, the seeds do seem to ripen quickly here (e.g. compared with plants that I do keep a close eye on, such as brugmansias). Sorry, I can't be more precise! Here's a ripe seedpod on my Abbey's Tangerine in November of last year.

This message was edited Oct 9, 2011 11:51 AM

And here's one of the seedlings from that pod, probably cross-pollinated with 'Brick Red'. I'm hoping it will flower over the next few months.

I bought some more native hibiscus about 6 weeks ago. Here's the label on one of them.

Here's the info on the back of the label.

Here's the bud on my Barambah Creek hibiscus, on the verge of opening at 9.21 this morning.

Here it is an hour later, not quite fully open. (I moved the pot out of direct sunlight to get better photos.)

This message was edited Oct 9, 2011 11:41 AM

A side view.

Front view.

Cestrum_SEQ,

Thank you for all the information. So Hibiscus heterophyllus is a summer bloomer which keep bankers hours; a very civilized Hibiscus. And you don’t have to be out a 2 AM in the morning pollinating your Hibiscus with a flashlight while your neighbors debate if they should report the crazy man to the police.

I reviewed your link to Hibiscus hybrids. The species page was very interesting. I noted the picture of Hibiscus trionum, a specimen of which survived in my garden under five feet of snow this past winter; but, Hibiscus trionum has also befriended Polar Bears, surviving by seed dispersible.
http://hibiscushybrids.com/Species_Gallery.html

Is there a reliable native Hibiscus seed seller in Australia who will export seeds? When I complete my current set of projects, I will be looking for new challenges.

Mike

Yes, it is very civilised now that you put it that way :-) Most of my pollination is done with brugs, generally in the early morning/late arvo (there's no real twilight here: it just goes dark suddenly). The hibiscus I pollinate when/if I remember--no need for midnight forays with torches here LOL (Other than when the dog's barking drives me bonkers and propels me out of bed with said torch in hand ...) Mind you, I'm still trying to imagine what five feet of snow might feel like, much less how a plant that can grow here could survive those conditions! (Plus, I thought Hibiscus trionum was an annual ...)

Normally I'd be happy to post a few seeds (I assume I'll be able to harvest some more this growing season) but the US import requirements have me stumped, both because of the need for an import permit and presumably the concomitant requirement to use a real name and street address on that permit. (Not possible for me. Sorry.) I suggest you try contacting the breeders on that link of mine; you'll see from the label on my Barambah Creek hibiscus that the seller was Pete's Nursery, so Pete might be a good person to contact. It appears that Pete from Pete's Hobby Nursery is interstate and will return later next week, so I'll see if I can put you two in direct contact via email when he returns, if you like? (I don't know him personally but he's only a local phone call away from here.)

Here it is, 4 hours from that first photo of the unopened bud. (I returned the pot to full sun. ) The flower gets lighter in colour and is already showing some signs of weathering. Has some insects inside it too.

When I was growing up, my mother would lecture my siblings and I on how easy we had it. One of her favorite stories was how bad the snows were in New York City when she was young and that the city was snow covered all winter, and because there was no place to remove the snow, it was piled high in mountains which lasted until spring arrived. Last winter I was wishing my mother was still with us so she could enjoy the “good old days”. I ran out of places to store the snow and one of my Hibiscus patches became a necessary snow mountain. According the USDA Hibiscus trionum can survive as either a perennial or an annual. In Canada, where it is considered an invasive weed, it is definitely an annual. I believe the lone survivor was from root but I can’t rule out the possibility of a stray seed. I will be paying more attention this winter.

Another unexpected but most welcome survivor was Hibiscus aculeatus which is a native from the south-eastern United States. The lone survivor was the white flowering strain and not the yellow as I had hoped but I will take any bounty nature hands me. This one is definitely from a root. Hibiscus aculeatus is assigned to section Furcaria, as are many central African Hibiscus with the same chromosome numbers, which is why I am so interested in it. There are other lines of Zone 6 Hibiscus aculeatus, the problem is getting the seeds to mature before the snow falls. My efforts with central African Hibiscus have been miserable failures, so I will focus of Hibiscus aculeatus for now, selecting for plants with early seed maturation. If I can’t get Hibiscus aculeatus to reliably set seeds in Zone 6 there is no point in working with central African Hibiscus. South African Hibiscus are another story which I will post about shortly.

Any contacts with Hibiscus growers working with native Australian Hibiscus would be very much appreciated. There are quite a few Hibiscus in the American south-west which should do well Australian. On the plus side, we have Hibiscus in North American which will only do well if they are frozen for a few months.

Mike

Cestrum_SEQ,

I was going through all the pictures in the link you posted and found an Email from Fred dated 20-4-11 (see last picture on page):
http://hibiscushybrids.com/New_Emails.html

Here is another picture of the same cross, involving central African Hibiscus.
http://hibiscushybrids.com/Fred_Gallery.html
http://hibiscushybrids.com/images/Radiatus%20x%20acetosella%20Bush.JPG

Fred and I need to have a serious discussion about the lowly North American native Hibiscus aculeatus and chromosome numbers. Those tectonic plates certainly get around a lot.

Mike


This message was edited Oct 9, 2011 11:05 AM

This message was edited Oct 28, 2011 3:52 AM

I'll put you in touch with Pete when he returns from interstate, and you can discuss those matters with him (or whoever he refers you to) and make friends to your heart's content LOL
That F2 of Radiatus x Acetosella does have pretty foliage.
BTW, I also have 'Cha's Mist', in bud and soon (I hope) to flower for the first time in my garden.

Meanwhile, here's my last photo of that bloom on 'Barambah Creek', taken exactly 24 hours (to the minute!) after the first photo of the unopened bud.

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

A very nice picture of Hibiscus schizopetalus, I am still working on that problem. No need for translations from Aussie, we Yanks have seen all the Crocodile' Dundee movies!

I found Fred’s Email address on the Australian Hibiscus website and will send him an Email this weekend. Or would it be better to wait for an introduction?

Mike

No need to wait, given that I don't know Fred.
By all means, go ahead and contact him. Let us know how you go.
I'll try to get in touch with Colleen this weekend.

Here's a native hibiscus with an ID problem. It was simply labelled 'Native hibiscus Alyogyne', but it seems almost identical to Barambah Creek. The only difference I can see is that the lower leaves on this plant have five leaflets, although the ones on the upper part of the plant have only three, like Barambah Creek.

I've spoken to Colleen but, alas, no real luck. She doesn't sell seed or know anyone in Australia who sells. H. heterophyllus seed. She suggested two European suppliers, B&T Seeds and Sunshine Seeds in Holland: www.sunshine-seeds.de You're probably familiar with both ... and unlikely to find what you want there. The only Aussie supplier she knew of was a West Australian company (probably the one Pete was thinking of), but they have predominantly Alyogyne:
www.nindethana.net.au
Perhaps you could get in touch with them and ask if they could find some H. heterophyllus seeds?

Here is the so-called Alyogyne at left and Barambah Creek at right. Another difference: the leaflets on the Alyogyne seem narrower than those on BC.

To increase the genetic diversity of my breeding stock, I purchased Hibiscus calyphyllus seeds from B&T World Seeds but they are not cheep. Quality control is terrible and the shipment contained many obviously non-viable seeds and plant debris. The delivery was faster then originally promised and enough seeds germinate that I do have a half-dozen plants but growth is lackluster compared to seeds of the same species from other sources. I am planning to over-winter these plants indoors and if they survive hopefully will do better next year. For many hard to find seeds, B&T World Seeds is the only game in town but the feedback in the Garden Watchdog is mixed. Many reviews are similar to my experience but others have been very happy with the results. If you can’t get the seeds from anywhere else use B&T and hope you are lucky.

I am aware of Sunshine Seeds but have not used them yet. After my experience with B&T I decided to seek out sources within the native range of the species, hence my interest in growers in Australia. One of the difficulties with local growers is that they don’t want to get involved with export issues. I did find one potential South African source for H. calyphyllus but they don’t have it in stock yet but they have a growing inventory of native Hibiscus seeds and their prices and shipping costs are reasonable.
http://stores.ebay.com/southafricanbotanicals

Mike

Quality of seeds is always an issue, isn't it. The packets of seeds I've bought on ebay that (1) never germinated or (2) were not what they were sold as, is beyond count! Those 'export issues' are definitely a stumbling block but that WA seller *does* sell overseas, so if I were you I would definitely try them.
The great irony is that here in Australia, because of our quarantine restrictions, we usually have only a fraction of the plant cultivars--whole species,even--available overseas. It's just that in the case of these hibiscus, they're natives being bred here, so this is where the new cultivars are originating ...

Here's a cutting of Brick Red I took in January of this year. It's growing in a 9-litre bucket, although the roots have spread thru the drainage holes and into the ground. I placed it here under the canopy of other trees/shrubs to protect it from the occasional frosty night we get here, and it's just flowered now at over 2 metres tall, reaching for the sun.
It's been overcast all day, which is probably why the flower is still open at 5pm.
Correction: this is Abbey's Tangerine.

This message was edited Jan 1, 2012 2:47 PM