Wakanisha and African Princess

[Nievesgirl]

He Charlie or anyone

Can you tell me more about both the growth rate and how it blooms for me ? Do you like it better than Creme de cacao. I had CDC but I was not too excited about the blooms its growth rate was A+ though and this is why I liked CDC.

[Charlie]

Both of these grow at least as vigorously as Creme de Cacao and Wakanisha probably even more so. They are slow to start blooming but once they do start they are fine. Of course these are Fascinating Foliage varieties with the interesting leaves.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

For some reason I replied and my message didn't post

anyways I bought both Cv's so I can not wait to see how they do. Creme de Cacaco had an excellent bush and would bud a lot for me, Just the blooms where not that interesting to me lol. I hope with Wakanisha I can get some good offspring since its doubled bred off of Creme de cacao

[Charlie]

I haven't had the chance to hybridize with Wakanisha yet but it should offer some interesting possibilities. I am looking forward to seeing what happens with a lot of the Fascinating Foliage varieties in future hybridizing. By crossing Creme de Cacao with lost of of different colored cvs we got the full spectrum of color in the Fascinating Foliage. Where it will go from here is the big

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

Charlie,

I think we need to focus on getting some seedling that keep their cool leaf colors now.  Bronze/red leaves with yellow blooms could be quite spectacular!

I really want to see what happens when you cross FF x FF, I have some ideas, but we need to do the cross first!

[Charlie]

Interesting idea, Chris. Unless one has grown hibiscus from seed, hibiscus have green leaves only, right? Different shades of green, true, but no other colors. However, as Chris mentioned,hibiscus grown from seed can also have red and bronze leaves during their first year. These colors disappear by the time the plant starts blooming.

I wonder what function the red leaves serve. Or is this ancient DNA being expressed that no longer has a purpose? Another question - what causes the coloration? Is is the production of anthocyanin or carotenoids and if so why does the plant stop producing it?

As far as crossing FF x FF goes - the first that we will see are Pinot Noir back crosses on Creme de Cacao. There are seedlings already growing from that cross that was made before I recognized all the other FF varieties that came from CdC.
Hopefully other people will make other crosses between FF varieties and then we will see what happens.

Charlie