Southwest Florida Gardening

Roselle, or Hibiscus Sabdariffa, is a new plant in my garden this year. It’s edible, of course, and is an extremely attractive plant. The leaves are a nice shade of green but the stems are bright red. The flowers on my plants are a pale dusty pink.

Hibiscus sabdariffa or Roselle

Detailed, but fairly technical, information on roselle can be found at Wikipedia.

I haven’t harvested mine yet. It’s just now beginning to bloom so there aren’t any calyces yet. However, I sampled a drink made from them some time ago at one of Echo’s Farm Day gatherings and I’ve wanted to grow the plant ever since. However, the plants sell out quickly and I’ve never been lucky enough to get one. I was thrilled when I found seeds this spring. 

Roselle is a tropical plant that fits well into an edible landscape plan in Southwest Florida. The plant will grow to about 7 or 8 feet tall, making it a nice shrub. It’s reasonably fast growing, too. I started mine from seed in May this year and it is about 4 feet tall now.

I only just learned that roselle is a “short day plant”. In other words, it blooms when the days begin to get shorter, in late September and October. The calyces are ready to harvest about two months later. Harvesting them stimulates development of more buds, thus extending the season. If the plant isn’t harvested, it will die in January. This information comes from Perdue University.

As I said, this is a new plant for me and I certainly didn’t know all this when I started the seeds. I’ll add more information as I gain experience with roselle.

I assume roselle will behave similar to the False Roselle or Cranberry Hibiscus I’ve grown for a number of years. That one dies back in the winter but regrows from self-seeding. It’s best to cut that one down to the ground before a frost or freeze kills it because then it will resprout from the roots and the plants will develop quicker in the spring.

The leaves are edible and are described as a sort of “spicey spinach”. As noted above, the calyces are used in various beverages and teas and the entire plant is considered medicinal.