Rose of Sharon - Paeonyflorus It's A Shrub And A Tree! - Paeonyflorus Rose of Sharon Shrubs

This shrub is very interesting. The Rose of Sharon - Paeonyflorus, Hibiscus syriacus Paeonyflorus - can be used as a shrub, a tree or even as an espalier. Espalier planting is new to me. I'm hearing more about it all the time. It was developed in Europe to support a tree to grow flat against a wall or a trellis. This was used for producing fruit and also to form patterns with the branches of the trees. These can be a good choice for a limited space.

If you wish it to grow as a multi-stemmed shrub you can just let it grow naturally. As a single stem tree, you would want to cut back all the stems except the one you wish to use as the one trunk for the tree. Mature height is 10-15 feet tall and it can spread 6-8 feet wide. Another benefit of this shrub is that it blooms from summer into fall with pink to wine colored flowers. If you want a larger flower, you can prune back to 2-3 buds in early spring. Being sterile, the Paeonyflorus will have fewer or no seed pods to have to mess with.

Published Nov 18 2008, 07:50 AM by patti-nhn

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