b'in the sunlight, it was more purple-ish. After we adjusted the size, we could While working toward this blue color,introduce the color, Malinowski says. Malinowski says the first different colorFrom there, he learned commercial they actually hit was a really light purple.partners wanted more: new foliage colors When I first saw Fantasia (a lavenderand flower petal shapes.colored) and Plum Crazy (a plum colored)They want to see different leaf color, winter-hardy hibiscus cultivars on theranging from purple to red leaves, market, I brought them into the breedingMalinowski says. Were starting to program because I thought we could getconsider adding that into our program, into the blue color, he says. Eventually bywhich means well focus on flower and repeated crossing them with our hybrids,foliage color.we were able to get the blue color.In the meantime, he says theyve been Malinowski says it took crossing fourworking hard to come up with new colors winter-hardy hibiscus species to getand petal shapes.the first variation, and then he startedWere working now on a new series, adding new genetic materials. By addingwhere the flowers will have different colors, new genetic materials and getting newbut theyll have serrated edges on theMalinowski and his team are constantly variations, the program saw new colorspetals, Malinowski says. We dont haveworking on new, novel colors for hibiscus. develop.those in blue yet, but were working on it.An easier color they were able toBesides the serrated petals, theyve develop was a maroon colorperfect forbeen working on a trait to make the Texas A&M.winter-hardy hibiscus flowers seem like it We have shades of magenta, silverhas more petals.colors, dark purple colors and any shadeThe winter-hardy hibiscus flower only of red that you could ever want, he says.has five petals, he says. Tropical hibis-cus can have many more petals, but not Is Color a Big Deal to Retailers? winter hardy. Were trying to intensify the Despite the success Malinowski has foundtrait so that there are different levels to in breeding so many different colors ofthe petals. That way, it makes the impres-winter-hardy hibiscus, hes found thatsion that there are more petals inthe color isnt always the biggest things com- winter-hardy hibiscus flower. So instead, panies look for when marketing winter- theyll look more like a peony flower.hardy hibiscus.Asthe program continues, well start We started working with commercialhaving a hibiscus that looks completelyThe blue colored hibiscus can range from partners, and eventually, we had to shiftdifferent and new!silver to a dark, indigo color. our view of how to breed new varieties,As for new colors, Malinowski has his he says. We learned that commercialeyes set on orange. partners dont necessarily care aboutIts not impossible, but its certainly the new colors we made. Instead, theymore difficult than developing the blue look for different characteristics like plantcolor, he says. We probably wont ever growth habit, foliage color, shape andhave a completely orange color, but well flower petal appearance. get close. After that, wed really like to While focusing on color, Malinowskicreate a yellow-ish color, which is also dif-says they had to start considering otherficult to create. Once we get the pigment, characteristics and different traits, such aswe can try to establish it. making the plants dwarf or compact.At the beginning, it took around three Our first hybrids had beautiful novelto four years to come close to whatever flower colors, but their shapes andwe wanted, Malinowski says. Its much appearances other than the color werenteasier now because we have thousands fantastic, he says. We had to shorten theof hybrids with different traits. We usually plants about two to three feet to makehave the potential patterns to get a new them compact. trait easier, rather than at the beginning Now, most of the hybrids they pro- when we had nothing. But it depends! The Crme de la Crme is an example of duce are compact and able to grow in aMalinowski says one reason hisserrated petals on winter-hardy hibiscus.pot.program comes out with novel colors is FEBRUARY 2020SEEDWORLD.COM /21'