Rose of sharon ???

If anyone has one of these plants as bonsai would you please post a picture... I started one and would like to know if they work pretty well or not..thank you very much ! take care john

I think it's amazing untapped potential. I have my eye on 3!

Thank you russell,, they grow every where up here.. I thought i would give it a shot.. pretty flowers but a little big.. thanks john

I have one.  It is packed away for the winter right now, but I will see if I can find an older picture.  I will say that they are very slow to heal wounds (essentially, they never heal!).  The flowers are large--really, too large even for a large bonsai, and mine is shohin size--but I find the occasional single flower rather charming, but don't let more than one flower bud develop at a time.

Hmm.  I  found a photo, but when I click on the "host an image" box in the editing screen, I am not getting a dialog box.  I have posted images in the past without this problem.  Any ideas?

Oliver

Hi,

The name "Rose of Sharon" is also commonly applied to two different plants:
Hypericum calycinum, an evergreen flowering shrub native to southeast Europe and southwest Asia
Hibiscus syriacus, a deciduous flowering shrub native to east Asia


I am taking for granted that you are talking about the hibiscus one.
Walter Pall has a beautiful speciment on his site : http://walter-pall.de/floweringhibiscus_nr__1.jpg.dir/index.html

Xavier de Lapeyre wrote:Hi,

The name "Rose of Sharon" is also commonly applied to two different plants:
Hypericum calycinum, an evergreen flowering shrub native to southeast Europe and southwest Asia
Hibiscus syriacus, a deciduous flowering shrub native to east Asia

I am taking for granted that you are talking about the hibiscus one.
Walter Pall has a beautiful speciment on his site : http://walter-pall.de/floweringhibiscus_nr__1.jpg.dir/index.html

Mine is the Hibiscus syriacus. Walter's is beautiful, but I don't think it is syriacus. He lists it as Hibiscus rosa sinensis. The flowers are not quite the same as the Rose of Sharon hibiscus.

By the way, does anyone have any ideas regarding the nature of my problem in posting pictures, noted in my previous post above?
Oliver

John,

I did a search on-line, hope these links work, as rose of sharon,

http://www.bonsaisale.ru/e-store/bonsai/detail/?ELEMENT_ID=6759/e-store/bonsai/detail/?ELEMENT_ID=6759

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/0a/c7/64/0ac764abf1af44910af8087f9ca71f20.jpg

http://www.bonsai-place.estranky.cz/img/mid/111/p1010011.jpg

Later.
Khaimraj

On you picture-posting issue. It works for me (Firefox and Windows). Have you updated your browser lately (remember about auto updates!)? Has anything else been changed on your machine? Maybe cookies? Try clearing your cache -- tho I've never seen that do much good.

(Note: If you doubleclick (quickly) the window will appear, then vanish. Could this be what's happening?)

Jim, thank you for your input.  My Windows Internet Explorer browser is up-to-date (I do have automatic updating implemented), but apparently that is where the problem is.  When I switched to my Chrome browser, I was able to upload the picture.

Here it is.  In this picture, there are two flowers (sorry about that.  Only one, and only occasionally is better.)

I'm glad Chrome works for you (I personally find it to be a bit awkward). I suggest you check your cookies settings in IE.

That's a very attractive tree -- and 2 flowers would be fine if they weren't right next to each other. <g>

Jim, you are probably right about Chrome. I haven't actually used it very much, except here as a last resort. I will check the cookies in I.E.
With regard to the tree, thanks. I agree that the two flowers close together obscure too much of the tree. Usually, when they are that close together both spatially and in time, I would remove all but one of the buds. I didn't that time.
Oliver

I have one hibiscus syriacus, too. It is from a hardwood cutting and I have it 4 years now and just now it started to unfold new growth. These trees grow everywhere here in Greece with lovely flowers.

Oliver Muscio wrote:... ...I will say that they are very slow to heal wounds (essentially, they never heal!)... ...

This is also my observation plus they have a rather slow growth rate. In my part of the world they seem to be thirsty.
They show good tolerance to wiring.

I thank you all for your pictures and comments !! I hope this one will turn out ok.it is not as big as the one posted but they are every where here so if it works i will find a large one some where...thanks very much take care john

I've been wanting to try one of these for a few years, but hadn't found the right one. They have fairly large leaves & big flowers so need to be at least a medium sized Bonsai (IMO). Next week I have permission to dig 4 old specimens - really looking forward to seeing how they'll do!

Joey, you are right.  They would be better in a larger size bonsai (mine is about  12", a bit larger than the shohin size I alluded to, but still small.)  The problem is cutting a larger one back to achieve good taper would result in a wound that is unlikely to heal, so you would have to deal with it some other way.  The leaves are rather large for a small bonsai, but they do reduce pretty well under bonsai culture.  I cut off the odd larger leaf that develops.
Oliver

I've notice that Althea (what we call them here) tend to not heal wounds at all, even in the ground.  They just wall off that area and keep growing - kind of like Hackberry trees.  So you're right that scars will have to be dealt with or be made intentionally. That's ok though.  Russell's right that they may be the most criminally under-used Southern species for Bonsai.  Also, I think the single-bloom flowers would be best for Bonsai, the double blooms are heavy and hang at weird angles.

By the way Oliver, that's a nice tree you have there - great to see it in bloom!

Joey, thanks, I'm glad you like it! I agree that the single-blossomed specimens are more attractive than those with double blossoms. I call them althea too.
Oliver

I have a few but cannot post as they are in a comp. for me they backbud on old wood, wire easily, I have been converted. I have made some big cuts and some heal some don't, they are hit and miss. Mine also takes neglect fairly well!

Here is one that has been growing in my yard. well before I bought the house. The pictures were taken on 15 March 2014. Right now, it is about 20 inches tall and 2.5 inches in diameter at the base. It is budding out quite well. Can't wait to see it this summer. It was chopped from about 10 feet tall, and replanted last summer.