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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.
Rose of Sharon flowers against the blue sky
Like all hibiscus types, Rose of Sharon flowers bear a large stamen packed with pollen, to the delight of bees.
Pink Rose of Sharon-macro photography

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.
White Rose of Sharon-macro photography

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.
Rose of Sharon tree embracing a power pole 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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17 comments:

Kramer said...

Never knew it was Rose of Sharon, but those are incredible close-ups. Love the detail.

Linda said...

You brought back wonderful memories with your beautiful Rose of Sharon photos!! We had these in our yard when i was growing up - I have always loved them!

Tina´s PicStory said...

Beautiful flowers! :) LG Tina

Jama said...

It looks very similar to the Hibiscus....so pretty!

SquirrelQueen said...

Beautiful shots of the Rose of Sharon, they are a magnificent flower. I would like to have some in my garden but I know how difficult it is to keep them confined to one area.

Unknown said...

lovely capture!

Karin M. said...

Deine Hibiscus-Aufnahmen sind fantastisch....gefallen mir....
LG: Karin

Nancy said...

We have several of these growing in our back yard, about to bloom. Thank you so much for the interesting information about them. Your photos are lovely. :)

Roan said...

I do love the Rose of Sharon blooms. They are beautiful!

Rosie Gan said...

Thanks for featuring this plant. I always wanted to know what it looks like. Pretty!
Rosie

Photos by Stan said...

Magnificent shots and slide shows!!! Breathtaking -- brava!!

Míriam Luiza said...

São lindas fotos!

Sara Chapman said...

Thanks, Maia. I always appreciate heads up from other gardeners about invasive but pretty plants. Lovely photos, as always.

Lui said...

I refer to it as Gumamela or Hibiscus. Now I know its other name ;-) And yes, it is very prolific!

Linnea said...

I'm used to seeing the red version. This one is stunning!

joco said...

Great post.
I so wish mine would produce offspring :-)
Never found any in twenty years.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

My pink hibiscus is ffeeling my neglect, the flowers are not well formed.

This rose of sharom is just gorgeous.

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