Enlightenment

[Charlie]

HVH does not offer Enlightenment for sale. This variety is distributed by a wholesale grower to nurseries as one of the Bahama Bay series of hibiscus and was patented by Barry Schlueter. A couple of years ago I saw a pot of Enlightenment at a local nursery and, reading the plant tag, decided to buy it based on the claim of "10 inch flowers". I was surprised that after growing it for a couple of years in our greenhouse, and seeing dozens of bright blooms, that they all were about 6 inches in size with a few reaching perhaps 7 inches. This was right next to varieties such as Fantasy Charm and Strawberry Cream that routinely reached 10 inches in the same conditions.

So today I was researching hibiscus plant patents and came across the actual patent for Enlightenment (ain't the internet great!). Right there in the description was "flower diameter - 15 cm" which is 6 inches (5.9 to be accurate). So, whose idea was it to market this variety as having "10 inch flowers"? Checking the Bahama Bay website I see that it is still being described as having 8-10 inch flowers. Buyer beware, as always.

We all learn about our new hibiscus over time and sometimes our knowledge changes as new observations are made, but deliberate deceptions about hibiscus are way too common as can be seen in exaggerated photos and claims made online and even on plant tags. It's not fair to hibiscus enthusiasts and, well, it's just not right.

My two cents.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

I agree with your description of Enlightenment.  I grew Enlightenment when I first started growing hibiscus, along with varieties that I could find at the nursery.  I remember how I kept waiting for those 10' flowers and had 5-6 inch flowers all the time.  The flowers were pretty, but it wasn't something that was a WOW variety and colors faded badly in the sun. Not really worth space in any collection, if anyone likes the color combination of this variety get Rainbow Sherbet. 

Enlightenment had an upright bush, but it was an open growth habit and had small unattractive leaves like garden hibiscus varieties.  Rainbow Sherbet has large glossy leaves and a great bush, it does resist branching, but when it starts it looks great.  I was fortunate to see a large Rainbow Sherbet at the Open House last year in May and it was an amazing sight to see!  Very large colorful flowers on every branch!  I have grown both Rainbow Sherbet and Enlightenment and Rainbow Sherbet is a better choice for anyone who finds the advertised blooms of Enlightenment appealing. 

[Charlie]

Interesting comments and comparison, Chris. I guess I'm a little irked at Schlueter/Hines for the deceptive advertising because I made a bunch of crosses on Enlightenment based on the claim of 10 inch flowers. Flowers that size are still a rarity although there are more of them now than there used to be. Enlightenment is just not one of them, based on both our experiences plus the patent information. The patent revealed that the parents are Georgia's Pearl and Jason Blue so at least there is some 8" size in the genetic heritage that might work out ok in some of my crosses, particularly those with big flowers like Bridal Path and Maui Masterpiece that I used when making them. Also some with Rainbow Sherbet, come to think of it.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

Nice crosses Charlie, I am interested to see some rainbow sherbet offspring  

I was pretty disappointed with this plant,  though now that I think about  it, it bloomed pretty well in full desert sun.

[farmer d]

Charlie I am curious what your take on Enlightenment is now?  Over the last couple of years you have produced a nice group of marketable seedlings including some rather impressive ones in my opinion like Hot Babe, Elation, Easter Glow, Compassion and King Kamehameha.

Even though it was misrepresented when you originally got it, it seems to be versatile as a parent in your hybridizing program.  How would you rank it versus other parents?

Farmer D

[Charlie]

Hi Darren,

My opinion about Enlightenment is pretty much unchanged. I only have one large older plant of it, and it blooms a lot with smallish but pretty flowers. As a parent, when crossed with larger flowers it has produced some notable offspring as you described. I have some more crosses with it that will bloom this summer but after that I will use the offspring rather than Enlightenment itself to make future new varieties. The downside is that the bush is not that great and as mentioned the flowers are not as large as advertised.

Charlie

[farmer d]

Charlie,

Thank you for the update.  I hope that you have some more successful new seedlings from this next group you mentioned.  Sounds like to me this is another prime example of how your hybridizing program has created a number of superior next generation hibiscus that will further strengthen the species.

I appreciate all the hard work you do to produce such results.

Farmer D

[Brenden]

Hey charlie, I found this article, and it has always been in my mind, where the line is drawn in terms of who owns what. Where can you   find a list of all patented hibiscus? I google valentine's  day for an example, but found nothing. How does one go about getting a patented,where is the list,  and is there a price? And lastly, what are the stipulations? I have no intention on doing anything outrageous or harmful. So as an example. For all amusements  purposes, in a perfect t worls, if I successfully crowed 2 of my plants, would I technically  be the cultivator? Like I said, jusssst  a question. In the future I would love to try to cross some, I just don't want to cross paths in a negative manner with anyone.  -Brenden   


O, and good god she is slow at opening! We are almost there hahaha, still the only one that has  uds, odd haha.

[Charlie]

Patenting plants is an expensive and specialized endeavor. The laws favor only very large growers who grow thousands or millions of one variety. In the hibiscus world we grow lots of varieties but not too many of each one so this setup does not work for us.

Anyone who hybridizes a new hibiscus can patent it. You have to do so before you sell any plants or even publicize the new variety. Normally a lawyer is required to do the required paperwork correctly, so you are looking at $2000 or more to get it done. Once it is patented, only the patent holder has the right to propagate the variety for sale. Anyone can propagate it for their own use but they cannot sell the patented variety, only the patent holder can propagate it for sales purposes.

There are no lists of patented hibiscus. However, you can go to the US Patent office web site and do a search for "hibiscus" and then go through the results to find the varieties that have been patented. Currently only a small number of large commercial growers have any patented hibiscus. Dupont Nursery patented about 10 varieties when they first started with hibiscus but then they stopped due to all the hassle and expense. It does not make a lot of commercial sense to patent hibiscus because new varieties are created every year and old varieties lose popularity quickly.

Charlie

[Brenden]

Ah,  actually if you just google hibiscus patents, You  get lists of them, we there Are credible I have no doubt in believing so. and thank you for the response it definitely enlightened me. Pun intended! Boy the Fleming brothers sure have dominated ownership of many types. Although I am somewhat optimistic, it seems to be that they have successfully crossed a tropical with a hearty. And lastly have you ever seen Linda Lee hibiscus? She is based in Taiwan, I have no more room for plants at the moment otherwise I would have got one or two of them very very interesting colors.

[Brenden]

Also, how was the yellow variety cultivated in Hardy. I believe the name is old yellow. Can you break it down as to how that became yellow I'm very interested to know.