Scarlet Swamp Hibiscus: (Hibiscus coccineus): is a southeastern native hibiscus also commonly known as Texas Star. The six to eight inch wide flowers are brilliant red, with petals more separated than those of other hibiscus, giving the blossom a star shaped look. Individual flowers last only a day but new blooms open throughout summer and fall. The leaves are deeply divided into narrow, toothed, finger-like lobes. This plant is often passed along from gardener to gardener.

Established plants grow to seven feet each growing season. Plants die back to ground level in winter and resprout in spring.

Scarlet swamp hibiscus prefers full sun and moist soil. Naturally occurring in swamps, marshes and ditches, this hibiscus will even tolerate some flooding, although it will also thrive in ordinary garden soil.

Divide plants in spring. Plants often self seed from seeds produced in fall.

Rose Mallow: (Hibiscus moscheutos) is native to marshy areas throughout the southeast. It has been extensively bred and is the parent of a number of popular hibiscus hybrids, often refered to as dinner plate hibiscus due to the large size of their flowers. The large, fast-growing plants bloom from August to October. Individual flowers last only a day, but each plant may flaunt several 10 to 12 inch wide flowers at once.

Grow rose mallows in rich, well-drained soil with full sun for best results. At the end of autumn, cut old stems back to three to six inches above ground level.

Propagation is possible from seed, tip cuttings and root division. Rose mallows will flower from seed the first year if started very early in spring. Favorite cultivars may be rooted from cuttings during the growing season.
Cultivars

* ‘Anne Arundel’ has pink flowers, nine inches in diameter, on plants five feet tall.
* ‘Disco Belle Mix’ flower colors range from white to dark red. Individual colors are available. Flowers can be up to 10 inches across and the plants about three feet tall.
* ‘Kopper King’ is unique for its coppery red deeply cut leaves. The 12 inch wide flowers are light pink to white with a burgundy center. May not be fully hardy in the upstate.
* ‘Lady Baltimore’ is a popular old variety with pink flowers and red centers. Plants grow to five feet tall with deeply cut, dark green leaves.
* ‘Lord Baltimore’ is another old variety with red flowers on five foot tall plants. Leaves are even darker and more deeply cut than those of ‘Lady Baltimore’.
* ‘Moy Grande’ is a newer hybrid with extremely large rose pink flowers up to 12 inches wide. Plants grow to five feet tall
* ‘Southern Belle Mix’ has red, pink and white flowers up to eight inches across. Individual flower colors are available. Plants grow to five feet tall.
* ‘Turn of the Century’ is a newer variety. The flowers are pink with a red center. Because the petals are deeper colored on one side, the blossoms have a pinwheel effect. Plants grow up to six to eight feet tall.

Confederate Roses: (Hibiscus mutabilis) are large shrubs grown as very tall perennials in most of the state. Near the coast they will leaf out on old stems, but in most areas, the tops will die back and the plant will regrow each spring from the base. Oddly enough, Confederate roses are not native to the South but come from China. They thrive in the South anywhere that they have time to open their very late flowers before fall frost. This species is a popular passalong plant.

Height varies from about eight feet in the upstate to up to 15 feet on the coast.

There are several color forms, including one commonly called Blood on the Rose, which opens white and changes to a deep pink that is almost red by the second day after opening. A double pink type is also common, but double white, and single pinks and whites are also seen. The four to six inch wide flowers open in September or October. Confederate Rose is an eye-catching foliage plant even before bloom, with large, soft, gray-green maple shaped leaves.

Confederate Roses are often rooted in damp sand during winter cuttings taken in fall. Cuttings 12 to 18 inches long are very easy to root in a bucket of damp sand, stored in a cool, but not freezing area such as a garage through the winter. Success rates may be even higher from spring taken cuttings.

Great Rose Mallow: (Hibiscus grandiflorus) has large, felty grey leaves on eight foot stalks, topped with 10 inch wide, light pink flowers in late summer. Like those of the scarlet swamp hibiscus, flower petals do not overlap. It is native to brackish wetlands in the Southeast, and can be grown where other plants succumb to salty soil.