Roselle, Heirloom Hibiscus Seeds

Bring ruby-red color and bright, tart flavor to your garden with Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa), also known as Asian Sour Leaf. The fleshy red calyces surrounding the seed capsules are prized for hibiscus tea, sauces, syrups, and jams, while the young leaves add a pleasantly sour note to soups, curries, and stir-fries. Red stems and deeply lobed green leaves give this heat-loving heirloom ornamental appeal, too.

Why Grow Roselle?

• Tart red calyces: Brew a vividly colored drink or bring cranberry-like tang to your favorite culinary recipes.
• Edible sour leaves: Harvest tender young leaves for salads or cooked dishes. In Burmese cooking, roselle leaves are known as chin baung ywat.
• More than a flower: The calyx is the fleshy structure left around the developing seed capsule after the flower fades, not the flower petals themselves.
• A striking warm-season plant: Branching growth, reddish stems, and lobed foliage suit a roomy raised bed or a large, well-drained container.
• Open-pollinated heirloom: Grow a traditional tropical food plant from seed without assuming it will flower on the same schedule in every climate.

Growing Notes

Start indoors 6–8 weeks before your last expected frost, or sow outdoors when conditions are reliably warm. Sow about ¼ inch deep in moist seed-starting mix. Transplant after frost danger has passed and soil has warmed. Choose full sun, fertile, well-drained soil, and consistent moisture. Give plants room to branch, allowing at least 3 feet between plants; in a square-foot bed, plan for 1 plant per 9 sq ft with additional room if growth spreads.

Roselle is frost-tender and usually grown as an annual outside frost-free climates. Flowering in many selections responds to shorter days, so calyx harvest depends on day length as well as warmth. Short-season gardeners may harvest leaves but receive few or no mature calyces before frost. The supplier's 70–90-day maturity estimate is a guide, not a guaranteed calyx-harvest date.

Harvest Details

Pick young leaves modestly once plants are established. After flowers fade, let the red calyces enlarge while they are still tender, then clip them from the plant. Separate the fleshy calyces from the central seed capsules for kitchen use. Leave selected capsules to mature and dry if saving seed.

Packed and shipped by Box Garden Seeds LLC.