Rose of Sharon blooming
I’m always surprised when I look at the stats for this site and I see the search term “Rose of Sharon” come up almost daily all year round. There’s obviously a lot more people than I thought looking for information about Rose of Sharon shrubs! My Rose of Sharon came to me 7 years ago as a gift from my neighbor. She has a Rose of Sharon, lets call it the mother tree, that is about 40+ years old. I’m not sure how tall her tree is but lets say it’s somewhere between 12 and 15 feet tall. The seedling she gave me has grown quite a bit over the years and it’s only about two feet shorter than the mother tree. It’s trunk and branches have thickened, but they are still smaller in diam. than the mother trees - but not by that much. This is definitely not the best picture of the tree that I’ve ever taken, but to show you how big it is this year and what it looks like in full bloom, here we go … You can see the power line above the tree so that should give you an idea of how tall it is. It’s been a beautiful addition to my garden. I love it’s purple blooms. Birds love the tree year round, and butterflies and other insects enjoy the tree when it’s in bloom. I’m sure it’s helped attract some of the butterflies that frequent my yard regularly each year. The Rose of Sharon is a fairly hardy tree, but it’s slow to leaf out in the spring. It’s often one of the last plants to start to show signs of life in my garden. I usually see leaves forming by early June, but there have been a few years where it hasn’t leafed out till close to the end of June. My elderly neighbor always thinks her tree is dead each year because it’s so slow and each year I reassure her that it will leaf out and bloom - and it does. I’ll bet that the Rose of Sharon being slow to start up in the spring or early summer is one of the major reasons why I get so many searches on my site for this lovely shrub. I used to have a Hardy Hibiscus that would die down each winter, but for the past two years it’s failed to come up. I think it’s gone. My tropical Hibiscus - that I keep indoors in the winter - is doing well in a large urn at the front of the house. There are several peach colored blooms on it. Do you grow Hibiscus? What type and what have your experiences been with the plant? Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!
August 10th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Our neighbor has a plant like that, but it’s white. Great picture.
Mine’s up, too!
August 10th, 2008 at 8:07 am
I live in zone 7 and I grow hardy hibiscus and tropical. I usually just let the tropicals die, but perhaps, this year, I’ll bring them in. I’m also growing variegated tapioca, and I’ll have to bring it in this winter.
Although rose of sharon is very easy to grow here, I don’t have one.~~Dee
August 10th, 2008 at 9:37 am
I’ve never heard of a Rose of Sharon … it’s lovely.
I played too
August 10th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Nope, I’ve never tried hibiscus.
My GTS post is up.
August 10th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
You notice Rose of Sharon while I get hits for bee balm and bleeding hearts throughout the year. The internet is a great reminder that gardening is a year round activity regardless of long my garden remains frozen each season.
And speaking of frozen- no Rose of Sharon or hibiscus for me
I’m not jealous though since I have Globe Thistle - Nice to see you stopped by my place
August 10th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
That is one tall plant. I haven’t grown hibiscus in my garden … maybe next year. Stop by The Gardener Side and see what is growing in my containers.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:02 am
I live in Kent in England and this year there seem to be more hibiscus than ever flowering in the village that I live in. We had a very hot spring followed by what has so far been a wet summer - maybe hisbiscus like this?
I haven’t seen Rose of Sharon before either
August 11th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
beautiful
September 14th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
My Rose of Sharon doesn’t blossom. It leafs out every year, same as my Hydrangea, but neither blossoms. I live in CT, and there are many beautiful Rose of Sharon & Hydrangea bushes in the area, but not in my yard. I even had the nursery where I bought the Rose of Sharon plant it, and it still hasn’t bloomed. Any ideas?
November 18th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
We keep ours pruned to about 3-4 feet tall. They make fantastic shrubs!