Ruffled Satin® rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) looks fabulous right now.
Granted, it is rose of Sharon’s time to shine in the garden. I enjoy the flowers, and so do the hummingbirds. Evening entertainment at my house this week has been watching a couple of these amazing little birds buzzing about in our yard.
It’s pretty, and the hummingbirds adore it, but old varieties produce way too many seedlings. Ruffled Satin® is a much nicer plant with very low seed set.
Rose of Sharon is a really durable plant that will take a lot of abuse: heat, drought, clay soil – it’s even got decent deer resistance. These are great plants for challenging situations like parking lots but pretty enough to place in a lush border planting.
Ruffled Satin® has exceptionally large flowers whose petals overlap for a fantastic display. It also has really nice, dark green foliage
It will grow 8-12′ tall and wide and is hardy in USDA 5-9. It likes full sun, so go ahead and plant it in that hot, sunny part of the yard that fries your hydrangeas.
Flowering shrubs are having a moment.
This showy rose of Sharon isn’t the only flowering shrub that looks fabulous in mid-August. Many hydrangeas are reaching their prime, too. Roses are looking good, and the butterfly bushes are in full bloom. That’s not even considering the plants with flashy foliage or the reblooming varieties. Flowering shrubs look really fabulous right about the time that the rest of the garden may be looking kind of tired.
I, for one, am ready to take it easy and let my landscape coast along for a few weeks. That hard work in spring and early summer is paying off. The challenge is always getting gardeners to think about August when they’re shopping in April. But seeing how we’re all doing a lot more online shopping these days, hopefully, we can entice folks into investing in woody ornamentals that are worth the wait. Get that garden cam rolling and show people how awesome August flowers are!
Okay, I’m not really taking it easy in August. The ornamental part of my yard is on auto-pilot, but the tomatoes are ripening…on to the next gardening task. But isn’t it fun?