... growing and hybridizing all kinds of plants in zone 6b Maryland since the 1980's.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Hibiscus again

I've been dutifully pollinating every bloom on the hybrid hibiscus seedling ['Blue River II' x grandiflorus]. First I did a bunch of self-pollinations, and now I'm doing a bunch using pollen from 'Moy Grande'. Since it's so nocturnal, I figure the best chances of success should be right after it opens, which usually is around 10:00 or 10:30 at night - like in this flash picture.
 That's when it happens to have the most noticeable fragrance too.

By 9:00 the next morning, the flowers are usually starting to close back up (picture below) and by mid-afternoon they're usually pretty much closed. The open and close timing does vary a lot though depending on the weather. Cool, wet weather delays the opening and also delays the closing.

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