Discover the science behind new hibiscus colors at free Sept. 16 seminar

A flower-breeding program just south of Vernon has spent more than a decade trying to accomplish something nature did not make easy — expanding the color palette of winter-hardy hibiscus.

At the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center’s Lockett research site, professor Dariusz Malinowski and the center’s ornamental breeding program have produced hibiscus ranging from bluish and purple shades to maroon, magenta, coral, salmon and multicolored combinations.

Malinowski will discuss the research during a Brown Bag Seminar Series program at noon Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon auditorium.

The program, “Creating novel flower colors in hardy and tropical hibiscus,” is free and open to the public. Participants may attend in person or online, with online access information expected to be released Monday.

The work began as an effort to move winter-hardy hibiscus beyond the white, pink and red flowers traditionally associated with the plants.

AgriLife says its formal winter-hardy hibiscus breeding program began in 2010. Since then, researchers have evaluated more than 20,000 winter-hardy hybrids and developed more than 470 unique lines. Many have been evaluated by commercial partners, and several Vernon-developed varieties have reached the retail market.

One of the program’s major breakthroughs was “Blue Angel,” which AgriLife describes as the first blue-flowering winter-hardy hibiscus hybrid. Researchers subsequently used its genetics to develop about 20 additional blue-flowering lines with improvements in flower color, bloom size and plant shape.

The challenge is partly genetic.

Tropical hibiscus have been bred into a broad range of colors over centuries, while winter-hardy hibiscus historically offered breeders a much narrower palette. Malinowski and other researchers have crossed different hardy hibiscus species and breeding lines repeatedly, attempting to bring out traits that may not be obvious in the parent plants. Their research has produced flowers with characteristics increasingly similar to tropical hibiscus while retaining the ability to survive colder climates.

The Vernon program’s work has included more than color. Researchers also select for flower size and shape, petal texture, foliage characteristics and compact plant growth.

Some experimental flowers have approached 12 inches across. Other breeding lines have displayed ruffled or wavy petals, unusually dark foliage, white centers, multiple colors in the same flower and patterns uncommon in traditional hardy hibiscus.

Researchers have produced winter-hardy flowers showing temporary yellow coloration and coral or salmon flowers that could provide a pathway toward orange. But stabilizing those colors remains difficult because hardy hibiscus lack some of the pigments that create orange flowers in other plants.

The research at Lockett has also expanded into tropical hibiscus.

AgriLife’s tropical breeding program, established in 2014, has evaluated nearly 1,500 hybrids and developed about 160 unique lines for potential commercialization. Researchers are seeking new flower and foliage colors, unusual flower shapes and more compact plants suitable for containers and smaller landscapes.

The program has moved well beyond experimental plots. Eleven winter-hardy cultivars from the research debuted commercially in 2018 in the Summer Spice Hardy Hibiscus collection, including plants with bluish, purple, coral, magenta and other colors.

AgriLife continues to seek commercial licensing opportunities for both hardy and tropical lines, describing a portfolio containing hundreds of cultivars available for possible licensing.

For Malinowski, the work represents an unusual intersection of basic plant science and a product people can eventually place in their own yards — with some of the most distinctive varieties beginning their lives in research plots at Lockett.