Kiddo problem with listing common names is that they are not descriptive enough. Are you talking about turk's cap lily- as lilium martagon or you talking about native Malvaviscus arboreus var. mexicanus- as texas mallow,red mallow, mexican apple etc? If you have lily I would be very happy to trade if you can find anything on my list.

Hi, Cathy. There are several types of malvaviscus Turks' Turban. Cut and paste as needed. Take a look at http://almostedenplants.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?page=1 There are two types of red malvas in the catalog. There is just plain arboreus and arboreus drummondii, two reds of which I am aware. See http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/00272.html for more information. Seeds are in the little berries. See http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=malvaviscus+arboreus&btnG=Search+Images. The berry usually has 5 seeds inside. Peel them when red, remove the pulpy flesh with a paper towel and dry them. When spring comes, there is no rush to plant them. They will not sprout until it is hot weather. It was May here before they sprouted in the greenhouse. Do you need some more plants? Would you like to trade?

I have a friend in north Mississippi who grows it successfully. In fact he gave me a couple of pieces last autumn which I grew inside the greenhouse over the winter. They are now growing like weeds. One will stay in the ground over the winter of 2005-2006 and the other will go back into the greenhouse as insurance. I think you will be successful north of Lake P. even though it is cooler there than in NOLA. I first heard about them from Southern Living magazine a few years ago. They did an article about heirloom plants. One lady in Homewood (Birmingham suburb), AL was growing the Turk's Cap and also growing poppies. The Turk's Cap hibiscus was a hand-me-down and the poppies came from seeds a relative who picked them in a field in Europe after (I believe)World War One. That article revived my interest in heirloom plants.

Tom, I got my information at these two locations, but as you can see, Crowley's has a different scientific name attached. http://www.floridata.com/ref/m/malv_pen.cfm Note there are three colors show at Crowley's http://crowleynursery.net/alpha_h.htm When I was there yesterday, they only had the red to show me. The confusion is always when the non scientific names are used. These Turks Cap appear to be similar plants however as you noted, some bloom upright and others are pendulums. The penduliflorus look like a typical unopened red single hibiscus with only a little of the pistil sticking out of the plant. Those arboreus have much shorter petals on the blooms and the pistil sticks out much farther as if it was an unopened chinese lantern hibiscus. What also makes it harder, is both seem to have the typical hibiscus type colors, red, white, pink..... Ahhh, I must have four of five butterfly bush in my yard, none of them the same. I had such a difficult time when people would tell me to buy a butterfly bush when I was starting my garden earlier this year. Oh BTW, both the red and orange turks cap at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo are growing together and they are probably 8-10' tall. Darren