Rose of Sharon

As the warm days of summer begin to encourage our shrubs to excite us with color, let us consider the Rose of Sharon plant for your yard and garden this year. The Rose of Sharon is considered an old-fashioned flowering plant and has been planted and grown around our home for many generations of gardeners. The Rose of Sharon is a unique summer flowering plant because it can grow as a shrub, a small tree or a hedge plant. The flowers begin to open in July and continue to bloom well into September. The flowers are funnel shaped and 4 to 5 inches across. If you have a Rose of Sharon growing on your property, look at your plant when it is raining outside, because the flowers will close to protect themselves.

The Rose of Sharon grows as a multi-stemmed plant, upright-growing on stiff branches. The leaves grow 2 to 4 inches long and the leaf has three lobes. The leaves are medium green and have no shine to them--they are almost dull in appearance. The leaves start almost at the ground and continue to the top of the plant. The flower colors will range from white, pink, red, blue and purple. Some of the new hybrids have double flowers resembling a carnation. Some of the new single varieties are two-toned with a darker center called a "flower eye." The flowers will last for over a week but when a flower fades, it's quickly replaced with other flowers, keeping the plant in continuous flower. The flowers come on the new growth made that spring, so if you can prune them in March or April, you will encourage new growth on the plant and more flowers during the summer.

Pruning the top of the plant will encourage the plant to grow wider and become fuller looking. The Rose of Sharon will grow 8 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 10 feet wide, but if you prune each spring the plant can be kept smaller--as low as 3 to 4 feet tall and wide. If you plant Rose of Sharon plants on 6 to 7 foot centers, they will fill in quickly, creating a thick hedge for privacy, a noise barrier, and a wind break. Prune plants yearly in the early spring when first planted-- even if they are only 3 feet tall at the time. If not pruned, the plant will grow like a column-tall and narrow. When the individual plants are pruned regularly, the individual branches become stronger and can handle snow during the winter better. Plant a row of Rose of Sharon on your property line instead of installing a fence this year. Allow the plant to grow to whatever height you want and both you and your neighbor will enjoy a privacy hedge full of flowers the entire summer.

Rose of Sharon will grow best in a full sun area but will also flower in partial shade. The plant will grow best in a soil with good organic matter, so be sure to use compost or animal manure when you plant. Fertilize in the spring with Plant-Tone organic fertilizer or Dr. Earth Bud and Bloom Booster to keep the plant strong and encourage more flowers. If the weather gets dry and hot, weekly watering will help keep the plant happy. Soil pH does not affect the flower production or growth of the plant. Insects and disease are rarely a problem, so the only real maintenance is the spring pruning. As the flowers fade, the plant will make many seeds that can fall to the ground and start new plants next spring. These new seedlings can easily be transplanted to your garden, where they will mature and grow strong in just a few years.

Cone Flowers 

  (Echinacea)

During July and August, there is no finer daisy-like flowering perennial than the coneflower (Echinacea)! If you do not have coneflowers in your garden now, stop reading this newsletter and drive to your local garden center to purchase several of them for your gardens.

When you think of the purple coneflower, think of butterflies, birds, and a lot of color in your garden for the rest of the summer. Purple is the original coneflower color but in the past few years the new hybrids are making your garden even more exciting with new flowers in shades of white, yellow, orange, and red. You "NEED" this plant in your perennial garden at this time of the year.

The flowers are large daisy-like blooms with a spiky central cone with side petals that droop a little bit. The center cone begins as a flattened mound and quickly swells to the shape of a strawberry, point up. As the cone matures, in the middle of the daisy shaped flower, a small whirl of yellow flowers will form on the cone. These small flowers attract butterflies during the summer. The seeds that form in the cone will attract birds such as finches and sparrows to feed on the seed heads well into the winter.

In the fall, the side petals fade and the cone turns dark black on stiff stems. The foliage is also unusual--if the flower color is dark, the foliage is darker green in color. White and yellow flowering plants have pale green foliage. The leaves are oval with a point on the end and cover the plant beautifully.

Here is all you have to do to grow coneflowers in your garden: provide them with good drainage and full sun. Heavy clay-like soils or soils that stay wet will rot the plant quickly. Plants in partial shade will stretch to be tall and grow floppy. If you have a hot and sunny summer the flower color may fade a bit but the plant will produce more flower buds.

The plant will grow well in most types of soils--but the better you prepare the soil, the larger the plant will grow. So add lots of compost and animal manure when you plant the seedlings in your garden. Large-growing plants will need to be watered regularly during hot summer weather, so be sure to add "Soil-Moist" granules when planting, so your plant will cope better with the heat. This will also extend the blooming season on the plant. Well-established plants 2 to 3 years old can tolerate heat and become almost drought-resistant.

Coneflowers are slow growing when young, so I always plant them in groups of three, about 12 to 18 inches apart. In couple of years, they grow together, creating a focal point in my garden. When they mature, the plants, will drop seeds in your perennial bed and many new seedlings will develop. I prefer to transplant the seedlings that form around the mature plants, rather than dividing the mature plants in the fall or spring. Most of the time the plants do not have to be staked, but if your garden is in a wide-open area and receives a lot of wind, they may have to staked.

Fertilize with Plant-Tone or Dr. Earth Flower Garden Fertilizer with Pro-Biotic in the spring.  Insects problems are minimal but Japanese beetles can be a problem, so spray the plant when the problems begin with liquid Eight garden insecticide from Bonide Lawn and Garden--found only in garden centers. One application will last for 3 weeks and will not hurt the bees. Never use Seven insecticide on flowering plant as this old insecticide is very toxic to beneficial insects like honeybees.

Coneflowers make a wonderful cut flower for the kitchen table, and the flowers will last in a vase of water for over a week. So cut them and enjoy the flower indoors as well as in your garden.

"Gardening is an art which is learned by practice, experience and sensible advice"

Jules Oravetz, Sr.

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