One of my earliest gardening memories was of Texas Star Hibiscus. I bought this while shopping with my mom and dad at an amazing daycare in Houston. I landscaped my own backyard until I moved out of College Station and graduated from Ohio State eight or ten years later.
I still love this tall, wide plant and its brilliant summer flowers, although I've learned that sometimes it's best to stick to plants that don't require attention. But I have a hard time leaving one at a garden center without putting it in the car.
As a large group, this hardy species of hibiscus is primarily native to the swampy regions of the southeastern United States. This is Hibiscus coccineus 'Texas Star' or 'Texas Star' Marsh Mallow.
Like most types of hibiscus, it thrives in full or near full sun. Given their native habitat, you can expect them to prefer neutral or acidic soil, and you can safely assume that they will do best when kept moist at all times. They will tolerate drought, but will thrive in rain. They bloom most profusely when grown with adequate moisture.
'Texas Star' is known for its brilliant scarlet flowers, each with five distinct petals. Plant developer Heidi Sheesley of Treesearch Farms in Houston introduced "Lone Star," a pure white form paired with red. Some consumable sources are found through an online search.
Most of our hardy purple roses have broad, thick leaves. By comparison, the "Texas Star" plants had cut the leaves so finely that many passersby and even law enforcement officers were confused, thinking they were marijuana plants, until they got rid of those giant red buds!
Texas Star plants are hardy in USDA Zones 6 and warmer. This means they are trusted throughout the state of Texas. With the first autumn frosts they die to the ground, but they reappear in spring. I don't like pulling dead stems from my perennial garden in the winter, so I prune my frozen 'Texas Star' plants 12 to 15 inches after the tops die to locate the roots. . They came out of the ground so late in the spring and I don't want to forget about that and start digging to plant something new.
I don't recall having any insects or diseases on my Texas Star plants in the decades I've been growing them. Maybe locusts chased them once or twice, but that's to be expected in a bad locust year. But it was never anything out of the ordinary.
I feed them when I feed other perennials, which I have been doing for many years when feeding lawns. Finally, Texas A&M soil tests tell us that we need to use the same plant nutrient (total nitrogen, 30% of that is slow-release nitrogen) for all the plants we grow in the clay soil of North Texas.
Because the red on 'Texas Stars' is a true variety and not a hybrid, it becomes 'real' from seed. The flowers of the plants last only one day and are followed by fruits with many seeds. If you plan to plant seeds, allow the fruit to ripen and turn brown. Once they open, save the mature seeds and plant them immediately in 10-inch pots, 2 to 3 seeds per pot. Young seedlings will probably be too young to survive their first winter outdoors. So take steps to protect them when temperatures drop below freezing.
If desired, allow them to dry completely, then store in a cool, dry place until next spring. You can then transplant them into small pots with the intention of transplanting them into the garden in the middle of the season.
You can also propagate 'Texas Star' and its white counterpart by cuttings. Cuttings with strong buds can be taken in spring and rooted in loose organic soil in very hot and humid conditions.
Use 'Texas Star' hibiscus in backyard pools or in the rear of your perennial garden. The plants are quite tall, so you will need a deep bed to accommodate the width and height. They also need other low evergreen perennials and shrubs to surround them when they are not at the top.
