Show us those cool leaves

[Charlie]

Kristen, Fascinating Foliage plants all have Creme de Cacao as one of the parents but not all of the offspring of Creme de Cacao show this rare type of foliage. I haven't done an exact count but perhaps 1/4 to 1/2 of the offspring of Creme de Cacao have Fascinating Foliage. If memory serves, Andante has normal foliage while Luck Be A Lady has the unusual foliage - should be easy to tell them apart in that case!

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

With such a large percentage of offspring with the FF I have a feeling it is a single gene or group of dominant genes that are responsible for fascinating foliage.  If this is true then all the FF are going to have one copy of the dominant FF gene and one copy of the ff (normal leaf)  If we get 3/4 FF by crossing two FF CVs, it will be strong evidence that this the case.  Kinda fun how you are recreating Mendels pea experiment with hibiscus
 Next to work on is foliage color, I want one with red leaves!    

[Charlie]

Thanks for that, Chris. I will observe the results of future crosses to see how it goes and then we will know more.

Some hybrid hibiscus seedlings have red leaves to start with but none has continued with them to maturity. The best I am growing right now is Hibiscus tiliaceous which has variegated leaves that become more intensely red the brighter and hotter it is. http://www.hiddenvalleynaturearts.com/acatalog/htiliaceus.htm

I've grown the H acetosella you show and thought it might become a commercial plant but it was too vigorous and too soft for shipping so didn't go forward with it. Might be worth trying again, and shipping while small in 4 inch pots.

charlie