{"id":10859,"date":"2018-08-15T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T16:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=10859"},"modified":"2018-08-06T14:08:33","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T18:08:33","slug":"favorites-among-the-rose-of-sharon-althea-shrubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2018\/08\/15\/favorites-among-the-rose-of-sharon-althea-shrubs\/","title":{"rendered":"Favorites Among The Rose Of Sharon (Althea) Shrubs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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‘White Chiffon’ hibiscus (scene in a shopping mall)<\/p><\/div>\n

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‘Sugar Tip’ hibiscus<\/p><\/div>\n

Rose of Sharon, aka shrub althea, (Hibiscus syriacus<\/em>) is a woody hibiscus shrub that is hardy in temperate northern areas of the U.S. (USDA hardiness zones 5-9). This summer flowering shrub is exceptionally easy to grow. At one time,\u00a0 it was a\u00a0great pass-along shrub that fell out of favor. However, old fashioned varieties frequently reseeded around the garden. New cultivars strut variegated foliage, double flowers, and infertile (sterile) blooms that produce little or no seed.<\/p>\n

Rose of Sharons are available in a wide range of flower colors including pink, purple, blue, white, and\u00a0almost red.\u00a0Blooms\u00a0may be single, semi-double, and double and range in size from 2-5 inches across. They grow in average to good garden soils with moderate drainage. For\u00a0maximum flowering, site plants where they receive 6 or more hours of direct sun and feed annually with a slow-release fertilizer such as Osmocote\u2122 or Nutricote\u2122. Blooms attract numerous bees and butterflies.\u00a0Japanese beetles may mar the flowers for a few weeks in early summer, but shrubs generally rapidly recover.<\/p>\n

After\u00a0their first year, Rose of Sharons are highly drought tolerant.\u00a0Shrubs respond well to annual pruning and to severe \u201crejuvenating\u201d by pruning to a few inches above the ground. Some gardeners opt to grow them as perennials by cutting he plant back every year or two. In late spring the \u201cshortened\u201d plant(s) emerge and only grow a few feet tall with many stems and flowers.<\/p>\n

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‘Lavender Chiffon’<\/p><\/div>\n

Top Picks Among Rose of Sharon Cultivars:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chiffon\u00ae series<\/strong> feature anemone-like double blooms for low seed set and long-blooming; color choices: Lavender (purple), Blue, and White; 8-12 feet x 6-10 feet wide.<\/p>\n

Sugar Tip\u00ae<\/strong> – pure pink double blooms (no seed) and variegated creamy-white \/ bluish-green foliage; 8-12 feet x 6-8 feet.<\/p>\n

Purple Pillar\u00ae<\/strong> – slender columnar growth habit (16 feet tall x 3\u00a0feet wide), ideal fit for small urban gardens; 4-inch vibrant purple single to semi-double flowers with red centers.<\/p>\n

Utilize Rose of Sharon as a specimen shrub or small tree, as a shrub border, or set into a large container.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rose of Sharon, aka shrub althea, (Hibiscus syriacus) is a woody hibiscus shrub that is hardy in temperate northern areas of the U.S. (USDA hardiness zones 5-9). This summer flowering shrub is exceptionally easy to grow. At one time,\u00a0 it was a\u00a0great pass-along shrub that fell out of favor. However, old fashioned varieties frequently reseeded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,1487,1218,1319,749,299,1037,144,674,806,665,649,774,1164,329,853,551,843,1060,990,601,729,630,706,646,7,113,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10859"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10859"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10866,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10859\/revisions\/10866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}