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Hibiscus coccineus

 
Hibiscus coccineus

scarlet rose mallow

Common name scarlet rose mallow
Family malvaceae
Life cycle perennial (Z6-9)
Flowers purple-red (summer)
Size 3-6'
Light sun-part shade
Cultural notes likes moist-wet soil, tolerates heat/humidity
From seed germinate with bottom heat
Flowers first year from seed sown indoors early.
detailed seed-starting info below
Seed ripensmid-October

Features large 5-petaled scarlet flowers over a long bloom period. Needs reliable moisture, so I tried planting it in our bog filter - but it didn't appreciate that. The ones planted in an average-moisture zone near the top of our waterfall did quite nice, though. They bloomed in their first year, but not until October. The eye-popping scarlet flowers were worth waiting for, though, and the cool leaf patterns and color variations were great to watch all summer. The next year, only one of several plants returned, but it grew more robustly - by mid-August, flowers opened atop tall stems, turning our waterfall hill into a red-light district.

Hibiscus coccineus

In our garden, this plant grows in the following areas: waterfall pond, right fence border, front fence nursery area

Seed for this plant is included on my seed trade list

One or more images of this plant are included in my stock photo catalog

About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Hibiscus coccineus


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Seed-starting details for this plant

  1. Seed from '06 trade. Baggy 75F (70%G, 5-7d)
  2. Same seed as above. Baggy 75F (29%G, 5-9d)
  3. Seed from '08 garden. Baggy 75F (60%G, 6-22d)
  4. Seed from '09 garden. Baggy 75F (2w) - sandpapered - 75F (4w; 10%G, 4-14d)
  5. Seed from '09 garden. Sandpapered, baggy 75F (55%G, 4-16d)
  6. Same seed as above. Sandpapered, baggy 75F (58%G, 3-10d)
  7. Same seed as above. Sandpapered, baggy 75F (no G, 5w)
  8. Seed from '13 garden. Sandpapered, baggy 75F (15%G, 15-21d)
  9. Seed for 'Albus' from '14 trade. Sandpapered, baggy 75F (25%G, 5-7d)
    Also seed species from '14 trade. Sandpapered, baggy 75F (90%G, 5-10d)
  10. Seed from NARGS '22/'23 exchange. Sandpapered, baggy 70F (100%G, 4-13d)

Perhaps I harvested the 2009 seed at the wrong time...


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