One of my favorite colors is red. I occasionally wear red clothes and sometimes I use red to decorate my home.
Years ago I bought a new red Chevy, but best of all, I’ve adorned my landscape with several red blooming rose plants, red blooming verbena, red blooming crepe myrtle, red blooming azaleas and even red blooming Asian lilies.
Every summer I enjoy the large, star-shaped flowers of some of the Texas Star Hibiscus species that grow near our home. Each multi-pronged, fire-engine red blossom is bigger than my hand. Each plant reaches heights of more than 5 feet.
I’ve read that some Texas Star plants grow really full and bushy, but for some reason both of my plants develop two or three tall stems and a few cuttings. According to Google, some Texas Star Hibiscus produce white, yellow, and orange flowers, but the strain I have produces red flowers.
Many years ago I planted the first Texas Star Hibiscus along the front foundation of our home in a wide planting bed that would fit between the home and the front walkway. The soil there drains well and the site receives full sun for most of the day. The plant is drought tolerant and has survived the past few years with any amount of water nature provides, but for the past couple of summers I’ve watered the plant every two or three days. This year the Texas Star has produced an abundance of large red star-shaped flowers.
The foliage of the Texas star hibiscus is very pretty, and as I’ve been told more than once, the leaves are similar to marijuana. The plant is deciduous and sheds its leaves when the first cold snap hits. In late autumn or early winter, I cut the stems back to the ground. In the following spring new growth appears and high stems grow again very quickly. Every spring I feed the plant with some slow release fertilizer.
The plant forms seed pods that contain several hard black seeds that are about the size of BBs. In late winter or early spring, these seeds can be planted to produce more plants. At Etowah County’s Master Gardener greenhouses, the propagation team planted multiple seeds in the greenhouses over the winter, giving the plants a head start on Annual Spring Plant Sales.
Very often I don’t remove all of the seed pods, and when they burst, the seeds are sprinkled over the planting bed. At least a few of the seeds reproduce each year, and by summer I have a few new plants to give away.
Since the plants grow tall, I don’t let them stay where they multiply. I kept the original plant that grows in the front foundation planting bed and moved one plant to a masonry planter box that is part of the carport roof rack system. The plant, although smaller than the original Texas Star, has produced several beautiful star-shaped flowers this year.
Carol (Bonnie) Link is an Etowah County gardener and veteran gardening writer. Her weekly column is designed to help and encourage others with their gardening work. Send questions or comments to clink43@bellsouth.net.
