Hibiscus grandidieri x schizopetalus (Fairy Dancer)

Our resident botanist/horticulturist, Mark Hooten, recently made and registered a unique Hibiscus hybrid which we at Top Tropicals are very happy to make available to the world. This is a first time offering anywhere!

This is an admittedly an unusual Hibiscus hybrid. It involves a parent species never before registered as being used as a parent for any Hibiscus hybrid in the past. In-fact, the International Hibiscus Society didn't even have a database for it, so it had to be added to their registry.

The hybrid involved taking the pollen of the spectacular H. schizopetalus from the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro (Coral Hibiscus), and using it for pollinating a flower of the rare, virtually unknown but elegant and tiny Madagascan H. grandidieri. This hybrid, which Mark Hooten registered under the name Fairy Dancer, was the result: "My knowledgeable, Hibiscus loving friends assure me that this is a most wonderful hybrid to come along for a very long time, and that I should be proud to offer it to the world."

This wonderful outcome was totally unexpected. The small, almost tiny, deeply lobed leaves unlike those of any other Hibiscus hybrid, resemble those of certain mulberries or figs. They grow from arching stems, from which a nearly constant display of bright red-fuscia flowers dangle on long, thread-like stems, making them appear suspended in air at a distance.