No, it is absolutely not sterile. This particular hibiscus was born as a stem mutation, not a complex hybridization process which often results in sterility.

The many seeds from 'little kim', however, will not result in more of that cultivar. The seedlings will more likely resemble the original parent plant on which the mutation occurred. They can only be cloned via asexual propagation.

in the hosta world we would say ... they dont come true from seed ..

same thing.. right rhiz??

but .... you could grow some seedlings.. for grafting.. if H will graft ... and you have 5 years to grow a little thing out... lol ... in other words.. the child/graft should not be rejected by seed clones of the mother ... but perhaps i go to far.. speculating ....

ken

I was thinking of putting little kim in my new, theoretically (at this point) less maintenance garden. No thanks to a high seeding plant. Been there done that with a pink ROS.

I appreciate your info. rhizo, I really do.

You are very welcome, Marie.

Ken, I don't know if we're talking apples and oranges. Marie asked if "Little Kim" is a sterile hybiscus. "Coming true from seed", not a term limited to hosta culture, is not the same thing as sterility. Marie was hoping that my answer would be different than it was.

However, you are correct that the seeds produced by "Little Kim" will not produce offspring true to type. That's often referred to as not coming true from seed.

Whether or not Little Kim produces pedigreed or mongrel offspring, I´m don´t want anything to do with it! Happy to have a discussion but not for a practical application for me.

what i was getting at... beyond sterility ... was whats the point ... if they dont come true from seed ...

then they are the reseeding nightmare marie doesnt want ...

now.. if we could get apples to seed out oranges... that might be real interesting ... lol...

ken

Ken, I´d be surprised if sometime in long years gardening you hadn´t grown a ROS. Even if they came true from seed no one but a nurseryowner could deal with the seeds in a useful way. And said owner would have to be in commercial with a nationwide distribution set up.

We all understand one another even if you led us down the garden path for a paragraph or two.