My mom would like to give me some Rose of Sharon that she has in her yard. These were given to my mom many years ago by an Uncle and I don't want to do anything before knowing the correct way to do it.
Is there a particular time of year that I can take these from my mom's garden and put in my garden? Is the summer too not to do this? When would the best time of year be to move them.
Thank you all in advance.
Are you talking about the original plants that is now "years" old, or seedlings?
Several plants are called rose of sharon & the name is especially apt to connote different plants in England than in the USA. If you mean Hibiscus syriacus, an old established shrub might or might not transplant successfully but it's certainly worth a try. Small specimens (three to five feet) transplant with great success. If it is a fertile variety that self-seeded all over the garden (as you indicate your mom has a lot of them) the young plants are very easy to transplant by getting a big gob of their soil & not damaging their roots at all. But really old big woody specimens will end up getting their roots hacked up pretty badly by a move & will be sensitive for their first year. The hard thing to balance is that it won't be drought-hardy until it re-establishes its hacked up roots, but it will be at risk of root rot if kept too wet during the must-be-watered period. After it re-establishes it might never need watering ever again depending on your local weather patterns.
I would be most inclined to move an adult hibiscus in late winter or early spring, as if it is moved in autumn it could rot during its first winter while it is at its weakest from the shock (if your winters are as rainy as ours).
It is also easy to start rose-of-sharon hibiscus from summer softwood cuttings & they transplant from out of starting-pots without shock (seedlings rarely look like the parents, & some varieties are entirely sterile so can only be started from cuttings). If you're transplanting really large shrubs, I'd simultaneously start some cuttings in pots, so in case they don't transplant successfully you'll still have the same variet(ies) from the cuttings.
If the plant you mean is aaron's beard or saint john's wart, Hypericum calycinum is over-used, invasive, & weedy, a threat to all perennials in its vincinity. There are much better saint john's warts to be planting, & one with blooms as large & showy at H. calycinum is sold as 'Hidcote.'
-paghat the ratgirl
Take cuttings in the spring and root them, which is extremely easy with a rose of sharon. Then you'll have clones of the original and won't have to worry about trying to move a huge bush. I have two rose of sharons seven feet tall and in full bloom from cuttings I took four years ago from a double pink and a double purplish variety. BTW, they begin blooming when extremely small, and I had many blossoms the first year after I planted them.
JPS
I have one that I planted about 4 years ago. It was only a few inches high, and bloomed the second year. It seeds itself easily and now I have several that I need to remove. The problem I am experiencing is that the flowers are falling off just before they open. The entire stem breaks off where it meets the branch. I don't see any insects or obvious disease.
BTW, they begin blooming when
The only time I've seen buds dry up and fall off is when they receive insufficient moisture. I have a single along the road that receives little moisture in the summer unless I make it a point to use the hose on it, which is seldom. It was loaded with blossoms when we had a couple of heavy rains earlier, but most of the buds it produces now dry up and fall off before opening in 90+ heat without any measurable rain for the past three weeks. It does produce occasional blossoms that half open.
BTW, the one benefit about the doubles that I really like is that neither produces seeds. I'm not constantly weeding out small plants. I do deadhead the single when I remember because it is a prolific seed producer.
JPS
BTW, they begin blooming when
When stressed, some shrubs, & hibiscuses are particularly susceptible to this, will produce a big dose of the chemical hormone ethylene which causes buds to fall loose from the branches in about two days. It's a self-preservation technique so a shrub can concentrate on staying alive instead of flowering & fruiting. This typically happens with transplanting, or with lack of sufficient watering, over-watering, over-fertilizing, exposure to pollution in the air or from garden chemicals, lack of beneficial fungal microorganisms in the soil, or fighting off a harmful root fungus or grubs amidst the roots, or from being a new planting unused to its new conditions.
It's hard to say what the "fix" would be since so many factors can be stress causing; you have to figure out the stressing factor.
Non-organic growers use an ethylene-suppressant & other nasty chemicals to keep shrubs smart-looking for the longest possible length of time for potted sales of shrubs in bloom. It's one of many nasty tricks done to plants hence to customers who'll see the specimen decline rapidly & blame their own lack of a green thumb, when in reality the shrub had just been in a state of artificial preservation long enough to get the sale before its weeks of stress getting to market show effect.
-paghat the ratgirl
Great information. I would guess that it may be too much water. I haven't used any fertilizer but I have watered and it has gone from too dry to too wet.
originals that are years old.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.