Hi Molly,
I don't know tons about Rose of Sharon but I do have one that I got last year. It was just a stick and I didn't think it would make it. I stuck it in my garden infront of a covered porch and it's doing just fine. Maybe too fine. It's almost taken over the garden It's now about 7 ft tall and 6 ft wide. It's in a place with high wind so I don't think yours'll need too much coddling or shelter. I'm closer to zone 4 but some zone 5 plants do fine.

If anyone else knows, I want to know if I can move my R.O.S.
I had no Idea it would get this big this fast. Also, how much can I cut it back, either in fall or spring?

Hope that helped, thanks for anyone's input.
Bloomincrazy

I was glad to hear it is possible to grow r.o.s. in your zones! I think I am about zone 4 to 5 compared to your zones,allthough I live in Norway. Anyway, I have been told that I can`t grow rose of sharon here, so when I saw a small bush of this plant for sale, I didn`t bought it. But just maybe I have to go back and try it!(they had Oyasha syn.Blue bird, Woodbridge and Speciosum)
How cold and long winters do you have, and still growing rose of sharons?
The thing about size is interesting for me to, as I think I then will have to grow it close to the house or garage. Would they be stronger for my environment if I kept them sheltered in a cold room for the first couple of winter, or maybe grew from seeds?

You can plant them anywhere you want, mine are all over in my garden so long as they have plenty of sun. Also you can cut it down to where you want, it will just get bushier.

I have mine in shade & sun. They all do fine. OH.. except one in full sun right now that is dying. I just put a ton of shredded bark around it earlier this summer. It's croaking. Not sure why. But that one did great for many years.

They can be moved since I moved several to my new house from my old house.

I would think you might want to prune them in the fall, after they are done flowering. I have never pruned them. So... not certain about that.

They are very low maintainance. I've nevered fertilized mine and they are in red clay in GA. They are doing great otherwise!

To answer Bluebell's question about winter.
I live in Ontario, Canada winters can be -30 degrees celcius, sometimes colder. it's below freezing from November to March for the most part.

I'm glad to know I can move this thing because I'ts just gone crazy.
It hasn't flowered yet though, I don't even see any buds.
Anyone know when I should see buds if it will flower?
Thanks,
Bloomincrazy

My little 3 footer has tiny little buds on it so I should have blooms soon.I notice people with established ones are all blooming now.Does anyone know what the best fertilizer is for these?

Bloomincrazy, I was so glad to read your post, now I have hopes that r.o.s. can grow here to.
It is about the same temperatures adn lengt of winter here too, not so cold through the whole winter of course, but the extreme temperatures are that low.
Molly, I have not tried these before, but after advice I have read about growing things in sand, plants that aren`t supposed to live in my zone, I will try a seedling in a sandbed this year. I will make the bed near my garage, but with enough space between the garage and the bush, so it can develop to a nice size.(if it lives through the winter...) So this bed with sand will be surrounded by the house on the south side, the garage on the east side, I have planted a large thuja on the north side, and it will receive full sun from west/southwest. Hope that will be nice for it. In the bed I also plan on putting some big stones, to collect some more heat. It sounds extreme, but over here tehy say the rose of sharon will only live to my zone 2 which would be equal to your zone 6-7 or so.

Am I being to careful maybe...