Very interesting and very beautiful -- I love that pink!

I'm thinking of growing Disco Belle Rosy Red from seed if I don't find the plant this fall. (I want a shorter variety.) I'd likely winter sow the seeds. Do you think they'd bloom next year, or would I have to wait until their second year?

They should bloom the first year from seed - but they do take the usual 3 years to bulk up to be a more substantial clump.

I am really getting 'into' more hardy hibiscus too. I have a red (although rather more pinkish red). Best year ever for flowers Odd that you are deadheading to prevent seeding around as I find that my flowers fade and then immediately drop off....I have been hoping for a mature seed pod. There is one that hasn't yet dropped so I am hoping it will have time to mature. I may take a cutting and root it. I have grown (wintersown) some from seed this year that I received from friends. They are doing very well....a white one 'dinnerplate' and one just given to me as dark red.

great pics! :)

Nice pics, Woody.
My garden will never be without them. Love the late-summer show!

greylady - the flowers drop off and THEN the seed capsules develop. Wait a week or two and look for 1-1.5" flattened round structures where the flowers were. When they turn from green to brown the seeds are ripe. Not all flowers result in seeds, but most do here. If you'd like, I can take a picture of the developing seed capsules for you....

We do come across these in the UK, but mainly the H.syriacus Bluebird, Diana, Pink Chiffon et al. I always see seed for the huge H.moscheutos in catalogues but have always assumed they are going to be as tender as the indoor (in the UK) rosa-sinensis types....and yet here you are, in zone 5. In truth, the huge flowers would probably look a bit silly and out of place in my garden but I really enjoy hibiscus tea - what variety is that, do you know? I would be inclined to have a go if I thought I could make tea from it and my daughter is definitely much keener on those flamboyant lush blooms than I am.

The flowers don't seem to look out of place at all - especially the smaller Disco Belle type or any of the large, dark red ones. They are hardy - but 'wake up' very late (end of May here....) so, when I cut them down in the fall, I leave 6" or so of stems to remind me where they are come spring!

See the link below to Wikipedia - so no tea from my hibiscuses...

Here is a link that might be useful: hibiscus tea

woodyoak, not just the flower falls off of my plant, but the whole thing, stem and all so the seed pod that is starting is on the ground with the dead shrivelled flower. :( It did this last year also (the first year that it finally flowered for me). I am wondering if it has been too hot and humid and that makes the whole stem fall off along with the spent flower. I went out a while ago to check on the only one that hasn't fallen off and it is still there, so I do believe there is hope! :)
I am trying to make sure that it is watered properly during our horrible heat and humidity.

Beautiful pictures, love the mother and child, those colors always seem to be my favorites in the hibiscus.... the reds not so much...
I need to stop neglecting my 'turn of the century'. It's supposed to have the large blooms on 6-8 foot stems but mine barely cracks 3 feet.... bad soil, not enough room.... if I didn't have to fight those stupid sawfly worms every year I might be more in to the plant, but those worms!!! egad what a pest!

Beautiful flowers! Especially the deeper pink - wow! I, too, love hardy hibiscus.

Here is a picture of the developing seed capsules - you can also see a couple of flowers that didn't fall off or get pulled off by me:
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I was curious about the ones that don't develop. I've had a few where the calyx portion just yellows and withers away or falls off. From what I could find, it appears that means the flower wasn't pollinated. Pollinators appear to be any nectar-loving pollinator - bees, other insects, hummingbirds. Greylady - do you have lots of pollinators in your garden? If so, I'm surprised that you don't get seed capsules. As you can see the capsules are quite large, so I worry about their potential to scatter a LOT of seed, so I'm fairly diligent about cutting them off before they ripen. I'm more diligent about deadheading the seed capsules than the flowers themselves! The faded flowers are messy-looking but will fall off on their own if you don't get around to a daily pull-off-the-messy-stuff session :-)

Hibiscus also rarely makes seed in my gardens. The pods never develop and dry up and fall off, stem and all. I consider myself lucky if I get any seed.

Campanula - I have never grown these, because, like you I have been put off by the adverts for 'dinner plate sized' blooms. I'm thinking we probably don't have the summer heat to really get them into their stride. In fact I've never seen a single one outside a catalogue. I'm happy with my H syriacus 'Red Heart'.

Do you think these plants are inherently unstable, Woody? I ask because I have a lavender chiffon H.syriacus (horrid thing) which has single lavender flowers on several branches and single blue flowers on others (instead of the expected double lilac blooms). And no, it is not one of those 3in1 things which were popular a few years ago.

Flora, true, anything advertised as dinner plate sized doesn't really float my boat. I tend to gravitate towards 'minuscule but numerous' - umbels, clusters, racemes, panicles.............

woodyoak, I seem to have lots of pollinators in some areas of the garden....mainly on the anemone, gaillardia, and hollyhocks right now, but I guess some must be visiting the hibiscus as I still have the one pod that hasn't fallen and now there is a second one forming that seems like it will maybe make it to maturity! :) There was an earwig in beside the seed pod so I hope it hasn't done any damage to it Just for good measure though, I did some pollinating of my own yesterday, on one of the open flowers.
Had a drive to our trailer today and on the way was just amazed at all the hibiscus that are in bloom! So many different sizes and colours! There were some gorgeous ones with copper/burgundy leaves that had paler pink flowers. I am going to be looking for one of those for next year.

florauk, I have had the white rose of Sharon for several years now and never knew the name of it. I was happy to see that you posted your pic with the name. thanks! :)

ampanula - the one you are referring to is a shrub (and I have one of those silly 3 in 1 ones....!) The ones I have been posting pictures of are herbaceous perennials. The seedlings of the Disco Belles I have come 'true' to the parent more often than not but, as the deep pink one illustrates, they can easily turn out to be a throw-back to some-parent-or-other! I've not tried growing any of the red ones from their seeds - I really don't need any more of them....! The shrub hibiscus seeds a lot so I'm sure their seedlings are likely to be variable too. (Are you sure the odd ones are not from a stem of a seedling growing up through the parent...?) And I wouldn't be surprised to see double-flowered types thowing off stems that have reverted to singles, in the same way a variegated plant may have stems that revert to solid green, although I haven't seen that on my shrub one - yet!. All of the mallow family I've grown have been vigorous seeders so that's one of the reasons I try to be diligent in deadheading the seed capsules (on the agenda for tomorrow...)

Some of these are sterile and don't set seeds at all. If you bought one that's not a seed variety it could be sterile. I have one that's sterile. I like it because it blooms longer.

ooops, sorry Woody.
Nope, definitely not a seedling - aware of sporting and such mutations but 3 colours/types on one shrub??? I am sure you spotted my antipathy for these things - have only hung onto mine because it is practically in bed with a rather large rambling rose and I am too untogether to face the divorce proceedings.
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Woody, I don't believe H syriacus seeds much here, if ever. Again I don't think we get the heat to ripen seed. Mine never has. For much of my life I had only ever seen them abroad and thought they wouldn't even grow here. But they're getting much commoner now. And the flowers on mine never vary.

The deep pink hibiscus is still going strong out there. Most of the pale pink parent Disco Belles are finished now so the 'child' has a later bloom schedule than the mother - later to start blooming and later to finish. The last two days have been very cool here and it seems to love it! They are looking very vibrant this morning. This picture was from two days ago:
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That's very interesting how the hot pink is a seedling of what looks like a white with a rose eye, is it? I wonder what the original parents started out as. Your hibiscus look very happy. My 'Kopper KIng' with the huge blooms had such a short bloom season, not even two weeks. Yours seem to be blooming longer than that. That pink really stands out in the garden.

That hot pink is my favorite color for hardy hibiscus. These pictures have shamed me into finding a better spot for my own pathetic neglected plant :)

Love the picture with mother and child, and yes I enjoy the variability in seedlings - so interesting to see the results sometimes!

Also great photo of the seed pods. Flora, I love the red markings on the inside of that Hibiscus.

These are lovely, woodyoak! I must get another one. Had one at my last house and keep forgetting what an important addition they are to a September garden.

Oh and btw thanks for putting that dreadful Paul Simon song in my head............. for 2 weeks now!!

I love your dark pink "child" hibiscus, woody. My hibiscus include a white with red eye, a dark burgundy, and a white all grown from traded seed and a Plum Crazy. Also planted a deep red, Fireball, this spring. Surprising I don't have any pink. There is a Pink Swirl that I have my eye on at a local nursery. May pick it up if it is still there in another week or two when they have their fall close out sale.

'Fireball' is my favorite red one now - the petals seem to be thicker than on others and I think that helps make the color more intense and saturated. It's been the one that gets the most comments from people walking by.

LOL re the song.... :-)