Perennial tea hibiscus?

I am in zone 6-7. According to some sources this plant should be perennial with protection as far as zone 8, so it’s not an impossible stretch. It survived the winter with no protection, and we had a stretch of extremely cold weather (below 0 F). I didn’t even plan to over-winter it.

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That’s super exciting! I love hibiscus tea. :drooling_face:

Has that plant flowered for you?

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Yes, it flowered last year and I got seeds.

I know naturalizing it is a stretch, but that would be amazing. I am suddenly wondering how many seeds fell…

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Do you know what species that is? Is there any chance it could be one of the hardy types?

I grow native-type Hibiscus moscheutos in zone 6b Kentucky, which is part of its range. It can handle the winters.

There is also supposed to be Hibiscus laevis around here, another one that should overwinter, but I have not seen H. laevis myself despite looking avidly.

I don’t. My original seeds came from a greenhouse maintained on a working historical farm in Utah. She said that most of their food is donated to immigrant populations in the area, so they maintain the hibiscus for them. She did not say they were hardy, and they were started from seed. That’s pretty much all I know.

She specifically said they were tea hibiscus, and the seeds are very different from the hardy hibiscus seeds I have.

The hardy hibiscus seeds I have are hairy. These are smooth.

That is not Hibiscus moscheutos, and I don’t think it’s Hibiscus laevis either.

As you can tell, I’m interested in this genus! :smiley:

This is a Wikipedia photo of Roselle, Hibiscus sabdariffa. The article expounds on its use for making tea, so that seems to match as well.

Edit: I haven’t come across hibiscus seeds that are hairy yet. That sounds interesting, I wonder if it is yet another species I haven’t encountered.

That photo looks like my sabdariffa/rosella plants. The pods come in a variety of shapes. This season I just started hand crossing my two distinct shaped strains to build a basic grex. Hoping to try hand pollinating some pollen from random Malvaceae that I have handy at the same time to see if anything takes.

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It seems to be Hibiscus sabdariffa. I knew this plant in Senegal where they drink the dried flowers in infusion. It’s very good with a taste of grenadine !

Hibiscus syriacus. Rose of Sharon, alongside seeds of tea hibiscus.

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