Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum

The first bloom, nice, a mini. Lasts for two days, the second day it loses the pink rim, and becomes uniformly gray. The bush is small, a slow grower, but compact and full of buds.

Exactly the same as it does here, Nina. Might last longer in cooler weather but the bush is extremely compact and small but loads up with buds. There are few hibiscus that stay really small and it is not usually a positive trait but there may be some use for such plants in limited spaces. Double Date never really caught on despite winning HOTY - it is another naturally small plant.

Charlie

Surprise!
Look at this mutation! I wonder if it will last. It is really strange.

Oh neat nina!  You should post that pic under the sport thread :)

WOW!!!  You should try to graft it!

So cool... the biochem behind that stuff just amazes me!

Wow, Nina!  That one is really pretty, and quite unexpected. As you know, watch for a second flower from that branch and then graft it!

Charlie

The second bloom on the branch of the yellow bloom: this youngster is really undecided about what he wants to be in life.

Wow, Nina, that is a very strange development! I wonder what is going on.........please let us know what develops.

Charlie

Charlie do you see mutations that act like this very often? 

No, these color mutations in the flower that we commonly call "sports" are pretty rare. For one to be an improvement on the original flower, or at least an interesting alternative, is even more rare. In Oz a variety named 'Dorothy Brady' made several different sports that were kept and grown as new varieties but that is very rare for any cultivar to do. A very general guess would be that visible "sports" happen with 1 in a million flowers. Could be 1 in 10,000,000 but whatever the actual number it is not common.

One thing that happens more often is for the weed killer Round-up to drift on the wind and end up on a hibiscus bud. That tiny amount of Round-up does not damage the plant but can cause unusual changes in the bud it lands on. However, the changes in that flower are only seen in that flower and other buds on the plant then and in the future will be normal. Typically the type of speckling seen in Wild Dream is what you see on flowers that were affected by Round-up, but in the case of Wild Dream it is natural.

Another aspect of this question of "sports" is whether mutation type changes other than flower color also occur with hibiscus. This would be harder to notice but it seems possible that other traits could also change and if noticed could be captured by grafting that part of the plant that changed.

Charlie

Charlie

No sport, the young men has returned to the routine....

ciao, Nina

Hello Nina,I like it more when it was out of routine  :D

Ah well, good sports are hard to come by!

I may have discovered a sport of Dupont's City Slicker the other day. It was the same flower except the outer band was a brown color. I am watching to see if it repeats.

Charlie

he,he, the sport saga continues,the  new bloom (pay attention to the red eye, the first mutant did not have it)

Wow, Nina!  You're lucky!  Good attention to detail there too.  Are you going to try and prop. it?

Darkhorse,

I will propagate it, in spring.
In the meantime, I will follow the young man's whimsical behaviour.

I like more the original MCR look, but it is extremely interesting to witness those changes.

I agree, Nina - it is interesting to watch and see what happens! Thanks for showing the photo.

Charlie

  I have an issue with my Magic carpet Ride.  All the blooms start off the right colors but when they open fully it appears that the colors bleed away.  Would this be considered a sport or a another issue.  So far these are the first blooms and they are all on the same "fork" off the main plant.

That's interesting, Dayve. I've never seen that happen here in southern California. I'm assuming you are in Florida? If the flowers open with the normal colors and change afterwards, then it is not a sport or genetic change. The normal change we see in some hibiscus flowers comes from the breakdown of the molecules that give each flower their color due to sun and heat effects.

The Magic Carpet Ride change you show looks like it is due to a combination of intense sunlight and high temperatures. Usually the change would be a fade to less vibrant colors rather than a change in color from blue to brown. In any case, the only way to deal with it is to move the plant to more shade or to just enjoy the ever changing show!

Charlie

I live on the Gulf Coast of Texas .  We have high heat and humidity in the summer.  At the time these bloomed we were in upper 80'S with humid air flowing off the Gulf. My plants are situated on the North side of my house which gets morning shade then noon sun then back to evening shade.  The only good thing is that we get blooms thru December and even January sometimes.

Daveey, I live in Dallas,TX., and have the same issues with Texas heat and sun.  If you try to keep your plants in the shade most of the time, with maybe two hours of direct sunlight during the June thru Aug time frame you  may do better.  I am currently on that program, and it is 97 deg in Dallas today.  You can expect smaller blooms when the temps get over 90 deg.
John

Thanks Jpiper.  This summer is a bad one.  We haven't had significant rain in over a month.  We hit 102 two days ago with a heat index of 110.  I just gave up on the grass and just water my hibiscus now.

Good news.  Whatever is causing the color drain is limited to that one branch.  I missed a flower bud on the other side, and it bloomed this morning.  It has kept its colors all day (another 99 degree day).

Sport.........?  If a sport could change a bloom's color, couldn't it also change its ability to retain pigment?  That first bloom looks more brown to me as well.

  I harvested a seed pod off the first bloom (the yellow and brown pic).  I am going to plant a few of the seeds.  If one shows potential to register, would there need to be a notation made about the flower variance?