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This is a picture of our 4 year old Rose of Sharon tree. It’s absolutely packed with flower buds this year. It has more flowers this year than it ever has. It started blooming on Wednesday or Thursday of last week, and I expect that it will continue blooming for another three or four weeks.

The Rose of Sharon shrub is a member of the Hibiscus family. You might find it listed as Shrub althaea or Hibiscus syriacus.

The shrub can be trained into tree form by careful pruning. I prune mine in early spring. Rose of sharon can reach heights of between 6 – 10 feet or more. Mine is approximately 6 feet tall right now. It’s mother tree is in my neighbors yard and that tree is at least 10 feet tall.

The flowers are two to four inches in diameter, and they can be single, double, or semi-double. Rose of Sharon tend to bloom in late summer. Mine and my neighbors have bloomed as late as the beginning of August and as early as the second week of July. I assume that the gardening zone, harshness of the past winter, seasonal care, and the summer temperatures are all factors in when exactly this lovely tree blooms. Flower colors include white, pink, red, blue and violet bicolors.

The foliage can range from light to medium green in color. Some varieties have variegated leaves.

This shrub does well in Zone 6 and higher, but gardeners in Zone 5 areas might have success if they are willing to give the tree good winter protection. This tree seems to prefer full sun, but listings state that it will also tolerate partial shade. Mine is in full sun and you can see the beautiful results in the photo above. Well draining soil is a must.

As stated above this shrub can be trained to tree form with careful pruning. It can be used in hard to plant, narrow areas, plant in hedges, as screens, or as specimen plants. Young plants will need winter protection in cool areas.

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