Rose of Sharon-Althea rose pictures

Welcome to Macro Flowers Saturday!

Rose of Sharon - Hibiscus syriacus started flowering.

These late summer flowering shrubs are very popular ornamental plants, esteemed for their large, pink, white, lavender and purple flowers.
Though the flowers are very short lived, Rose of Sharon shrubs are prolific bloomers flowering over a long summer-autumn blooming period, when not much else is blooming.

Like all hibiscus types, Rose of Sharon flowers bear a large stamen packed with pollen, to the delight of bees.

Rose of Sharon care:

• Rose of Sharon bushes are very hardy, almost carefree, drought-tolerant plants. All they need is a sunny sight or part shade (afternoon shade) and watering once in a while.
• Pruning is necessary especially during its first two seasons, to shape the shrub as to your preference. In late winter you have to cut it back hard, don't worry about the dears in your zone, they will do a useful job for you.
• Being late summer bloomers, Rose of Sharon shrubs take most of the spring off, so don't worry about you shrub being dead. In our parts they usually leaf out in May.

Propagation and problems with Rose of Sharon shrubs:

As beautiful as the flowers are, Rose of Sharon shrubs can escape very fast and become a nuisance.
The shrub is a prolific seed producer, reproducing itself each year. New seedlings sprout from seed, taking over the garden, killing other plants and producing much damage.
A two years old, established shrub has tap roots extending deep in the ground, making very difficult to remove or even kill the plant.

Where to plant Rose of Sharon shrubs?

• Rose of Sharon or Althea rose grows 2-4m tall working well as a beautiful natural fence, an ornamental privacy screen, a colorful living wall with great texture, when planted in a row.
• The shrubs can be trimmed for a neat, colorful hedge as well.
• Never plant this shrub in your flower garden or near your house.

A few years back we planted a row of Rose of Sharon at a distance of about 3m from the house and neglected pruning. In no time the plant reproduced itself till the windows, new seedlings coming out even through the crevices of the concrete sidewalk. It was impossible to pull them out, so we had a hard time to cut off all of the limbs of the plant with a hand saw.
This aggressive plant kills even the power pole, if left alone. Still I admire its gorgeous flowers on other peoples' property.

This was a long post, thanks for your patience if you could read it till the end and

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

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