Another gardening passion of mine is growing and hybridizing Exotic Hibiscus. I have so many plants in bloom now i decided to take a break from showing off my Brugmansia and post some photos of Exotic Hibiscus blooms. The pictures I'm posting are from both named cultivars and unnamed seedlings that I'm growing out.  I apologize for not posting the name or cross with each photo, but these are random shots I took without capturing the name.The photo of the red bloom above does not capture the ...

I'm starting to enjoy my first hibiscus blooms following last month's killer freezes.  Here's Exotic Hibiscus Sun Charm illuminating a somewhat gloomy day.Despite our record cold winter and recent freezes, my hibiscus plants came through relatively unscathed.  I think I lost a bunch of newly formed seed pods, but had no plant losses.  It won't be long and I should be able to get back on track with my hibiscus hybridizing.

Here is an interesting bloom from a new hibiscus seedling grown out from a cross involving Hibiscus Mini Skirt x Gatorama.As you can see this bloom has its mother's coloring & splotches in the center, and its dad's flower form and perimeter coloring.This photo was taken during warm weather bloom and it will be interesting to see what the coloring does now that cooler weather has settled in.

For the past month almost all of my hibiscus seedlings I started last summer have been blooming.  Here's a photo of one that is a real stand-out.  It is a cross between Exotic Hibiscus Remembrance x Intense Passion.  Living up to its father's name, the color is certainly intense.This seedling will definitely be carried over into 2011 and could end up being the first hibiscus seedling I end up naming and registering.

The peachy cool exotic hibiscus I posted a photo of in my previous post just bloomed again.  Wow, what a difference!This was a dinner plate size bloon, about double in size from the previous photo I posted.  I can't wait to see what the next bloom looks like.

Here's the first bloom on an exotic Hibiscus cross involving ((Mystic x Cajun SW) x Nightfire) x Sun Shower,  It really has an unusual peachy coloration to it. I'm not sure what is going on with the tuft, but I may find out soon as this seedling has 3-4 more buds that should open over the next few days.  I expect the next blooms to look even better.

Even though we are having record-breaking heat right now, it's color time in my growing fields. I think all of my exotic hibiscus seedlings I started from seed last summer are starting to form buds.

Even though we are having record-breaking heat right now, it's color time in my growing fields. I think all of my exotic hibiscus seedlings I started from seed last summer are starting to form buds.