{"id":7493,"date":"2015-04-12T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2015-04-12T16:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=7493"},"modified":"2015-02-17T11:05:54","modified_gmt":"2015-02-17T16:05:54","slug":"less-invasive-rose-of-sharons-altheas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2015\/04\/12\/less-invasive-rose-of-sharons-altheas\/","title":{"rendered":"Less Invasive Rose Of Sharons (Altheas)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"'Purple<\/a>

‘Purple Chiffon’ Althea<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Hibiscus<\/a>

‘Diane’ althea<\/p><\/div>\n

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In several states\u00a0rose of Sharon or altheas (Hibiscus syriacus<\/em>) are classified as exotic (non-native) invasive shrubs (USDA hardiness zones 5-8). Their seedlings\u00a0are invading U.S. woodlands. Plant breeders are now developing\u00a0less invasive\u00a0cultivars.<\/p>\n

The double-flowered\u00a0altheas\u00a0produce\u00a0far fewer fertile seeds;\u00a0stamens and pollen sacs\u00a0are mostly embedded within the flower petals. Azurri Blue Satin\u00ae is a new seedless form with\u00a0celestial blue blooms. Sugar Tip\u00ae althea is\u00a0covered with light pink and white double frilly petal\u00a0blooms; Sugar Tip’s variegated\u00a0foliage is green with creamy white edges. Both cultivars\u00a0grow 8-12 feet tall and 4-6 feet wide.<\/p>\n

Most double-flowered altheas produce some fertile flowers and are\u00a0much preferred over\u00a0open single invasive forms. Among the best are Blue Bird (dark blue double), Blushing Bride (multi-pink shades double), Freedom (purplish-pink), and four cultivars\u00a0in the Chiffon series (Blue, Lavender, Pink and White).<\/p>\n

Over a quarter century ago, the U.S. National Arboretum released four tetraploid cultivars, called the Roman Goddess series. Diana (white), Aphrodite (rose), Helene (white\/purple), and Minerva (lavender) are seedless forms.<\/p>\n

Altheas grow best in full sun and in average, well-drained, pH neutral\u00a0soil. Altheas are utilized as single specimen shrubs, or grouped together for hedging, privacy screening or border plantings. They attract butterflies and\u00a0hummingbirds, plus deer generally leave\u00a0altheas alone. Prune as needed to size and shape from late fall\u00a0thru winter. Altheas bloom on current season growth. Apply a slow release fertilizer such as Osmocote\u2122 and Nutrikote\u2122 in early spring\u00a0as new growth begins to emerge.<\/p>\n

\"'Sugar<\/a>

‘Sugar Tip’ althea with variegated foliage<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            In several states\u00a0rose of Sharon or altheas (Hibiscus syriacus) are classified as exotic (non-native) invasive shrubs (USDA hardiness zones 5-8). Their seedlings\u00a0are invading U.S. woodlands. Plant breeders are now developing\u00a0less invasive\u00a0cultivars. The double-flowered\u00a0altheas\u00a0produce\u00a0far fewer fertile seeds;\u00a0stamens and pollen sacs\u00a0are mostly embedded within the flower petals. Azurri Blue Satin\u00ae is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,398,749,440,144,778,674,806,1164,745,1154,601,729,630,706,646,7,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7493"}],"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=7493"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7506,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7493\/revisions\/7506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}