The Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus syriacus, is a flowering shrub. It can be grown as a shrub or as a small tree. They come in many different colors. This beautiful specimen is in an area where it gets partial shade, right next to our climbing Clematis.
The flowers are a beautiful deep pink, and have a double blossom.
They remind me of shrub roses, which I have had over the years. We have pruned this particular one regularly as it is right under several trees and just got too leggy when left to its own devices.
I usually do not like to have to prune anything every year. This girl seems to have found the right balance of shape, height and bloom mass, so that I have not had to do anything the last two years.
This is another Rose of Sharon, of the "Helene" variety, which is in the back gardens, mostly in the shade.
We transplanted it two years ago from the edge of the woods, to give it a better spot to fill out in.
This has a more common white blossom, with a deep reddish center.
As you can see, the different blossoms vary in the way the central part has developed.
I found this very interesting.
To get the largest flowers on a Rose of Sharon, prune it back severely in spring leaving 2 to 3 buds per branch.
Another hibiscus that I have is hibiscus moscheutos, Rose Mallow, which is native to our area. This is a very tall plant, growing from four to eight feet tall. Unfortunately I have not found a spot for it where it does not get totally eaten by tiny green caterpillars.
But I have not given up . These spectacular flowers are as big as my hand. I have one more spot I am trying this fall to see if I can get it to an area where the other plants will help attract insects that will kindly take care of the caterpillars for us.
This is the Rose Mallow which is right in front of the hedge in the front gardens. This hedge is Burning Bush on the street side and Privet on the house side. Unfortunately Bittersweet has invaded this area and between their root masses and the Burning Bush these mallows are doing poorly, as has the Heather in the same area. I am taking a very hard stance on this situation. I am moving the mallow and the heather , once again, to try to find a better spot for them. I don't like to give up on any plant too easily, and I have decided that I just need to finish with the hedge, and just let it do what it is going to do. I gave the Burning bush a real hard pruning over the weekend, to give the privet more space to fill out. I found several small bird nests in the Privet. It is a favored nesting site for small birds, which is why I had chosen it in the first place. The burning bush got used as I had so much of it coming up under the parent plants. It is great barrier from the street, so I do tolerate it. And who can begrudge it when it is in its most glorious red, fall coloring!! So I do try to tolerate its invasiveness. This year I have removed the Yucca growing within the hedge and am planting Woodland Sunflowers all along the house side, and will just let it be. I am tired of struggling to get within the hedge to deal with whatever may be coming up among the bushes. AHA!! So you have gotten to get an idea of one of my pet peeves. Struggling within overgrowth can get so time consuming, and I so dislke wasting my time on mundane chores, like constant pruning!!! Okay, ranting aside. - But these photos do get me going.
Absolutely gorgeous flowers having to cope with being decimated by a tiny green caterpillar. There are times like these when I do wonder if I should be going the chemical route. Look at the complete destruction of this leaf!
But also think about this beautiful flower perservering and blooming in spite of any no leaves left on the stems!!
But no, will not go there. Will give it another year to see how things evolve. After all, with such a beautiful flower, which continues to bloom year after year even with the total leaf destruction by the green caterpillars, it is worth the annoyance of the insect damge to be able to enjoy this yearly display.
Heading out to continue work on new fron gardens!! Oh, it is such a deligth to finally have this cool autumn weather to work in!!
2 comments:
Spectactular!! Perhaps as you move things around, you can relocate next year?
The perennials are doing wonderfully....Busy week, chat soon, thinking of our day....thank you so very, very much :)
I am planning to move the Rose Mallow to the new area I am working on. They will be in full sun and have berry bushes and other shrubs for companions. I'm thinking that way, others can enjoy their presence and maybe the new spot will give them more inner strength to ward off the predators!! Went out to check on my new Hibiscus, Sub-zero and found it all eaten right down to all the buds waiting to blossom! Oh, well, thank goodness that there is always next year with perennials!
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