Tammy,

If you raise thousands of seedlings of a plant you are likely to turn up a few oddities. Doubling often begins as one or two petaloid stamens -- stamens that are partially converted to petals. The next generation may show a few more. Continued selective breeding may then lead to fully double flowers.

Karl

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose of Sharon - Rediscovered

When I moved into this house there was a short, sickly ROS in the yard that died back a little more each year. I tried cutting a few branches and dipping them in rooting hormone, but they never grew. I saved some seed, but don't remember if they didn't grow or if I didn't get around to planting them, but seeds that dropped to the ground naturally never grew.

Then, just as the plant died some biological switch seemed to kick in. There were ROS seedlings sprouting in several spots in a 15 foot radius. The tallest is twice the height of the puny parent. Enough new seedlings come up each year that I've had to use a weed trimmer on them.

They also seem prone to mutations. Last year there was a seedling with white leaves that eventually died. I've noticed a couple of half-grown ones that don't seem to be branching. Another one popped up with white flowers. That last one could just be a cross from a neighbor's white-flowered plant about 1000 feet away.

I really ought to make more room for them to grow up and see what they all produce, and then thin out the less interesting.

Many plants produce white-leaved seedlings that don't survive. The lovely rose 'Joanna Hill' is notorious for producing albino seedlings. And several years ago I sent seeds of a Hybrid Moss rose to a friend in West Virginia. He found a number of albinos.

ROS is very easy to raise from seeds -- maybe too easy. That is one reason to grow the (almost) sterile triploids like 'Diana', which are also a bit larger.

Shrubby plants also vary in the degree of branching, so you should be able to select for bushy growth or more tree-like habit. Of course you can just pinch off the growing tip of the lanky ones and force them to branch; or remove the side shoots of the bushy types to get a clean trunk.

By all means give your seedlings some room to grow. No telling what sort of beauties you might discover.

Karl

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose of Sharon 'Diana'

Thanks for the link.

"Many plants produce white-leaved seedlings that don't survive." I thought it might survive if it could be grafted onto another with green leaves. So I did some practice grafts with similar tiny stems, but my grafting skills weren't up to the task, they didn't survive. I left the albino alone to see if it would get larger before it died, but it didn't. Mainly I was curious if flower color would be affected. My guess is that lack of chlorophyll shouldn't affect the flower color.

"ROS is very easy to raise from seeds -- maybe too easy." It was surprising to see so many seedlings after the original ROS never produced any over several years. Without any previous experience with the plant I thought that was normal.

"Shrubby plants also vary in the degree of branching" Last year a couple of the plants looked unusually tall without a single branch coming off the main stem. After the previous post I checked them and this year they have begun to branch.

Keep in mind there are whole series of triploid ROS. The only interspecific hybrid ROS I know of are Tosca and Lohengrin which are H. syriacus x H. paramutabilis.

"Dr. McFadden say H. syriacus will set seed for him when H. rosa-sinensis is the father."

This looks promising, but he doesn't mention what sort of offspring might be raised from the cross.

Karl

Here is a link that might be useful: Hibiscus ... Without a Net!

Will the seeds of double Rose of Sharon breed true? Thanks!