Mark, the link to Garden.org will give you some good, basic guidance. The best thing about Rose of Sharon for me is how little care they require. There are about 20-25 RoS all over my yard \ fence line and they are blooming their hearts out right now.

I see you are in zone 5 so you might consider mulching in late fall. Check out eHow Winter Care for more tips. I would recommend getting your new plants in the ground as soon as the temps have cooled down a little so they will have time to get settled in for the winter.

Good luck!

Rosie

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose of Sharon Plant Guide

This post was edited by tulsarose on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 7:20

Rosie thanks for the links. I've planted one already and will plant the other this wknd when I make my mind up where. The temps have been in the low 70's and cloudy for the last month. Long range forecast says more of the same. So I'm good to go.

Mark..

Thorn_Grower,
ROS are basically a shrub, and I treat mine as such. I wish I had room for more, but the two I do have are loving the summer. Personally, I feel they need pruning, to keep them under control and aesthetically pleasing. If you drive around a neighborhood, you will see well kept, and those running amok. Tulsarose is spot on with care, and I envy all the blooms she must have.
Ed

I see hedges of them all around town. I'll have to figure out how they fit in with rose and perennial garden. There biggest plus is they bloom late in the season here....

You'll find that RoS are very forgiving and seem to thrive on neglect. I guess that's why I love them because I'm a really lazy gardener. Most of mine have been pruned to keep a reasonable size, depending on their location. A couple have been allowed to run amuk but I plan to give them a good hair cut this fall.

In a more formal setting, you will probably want to hard prune them in the fall or early spring. Several of mine are pruned to "tree form" and my yard guy loves that as it makes mowing so much easier. You won't lose any future flowers as RoS bloom on new wood.

Ed, if I had more room, I would add a ton of hardy Hibiscus. I have just one that I transplanted from my mom's house when she died in '99. It grew at her house for at least 15 yrs and it is still going strong here. I just couldn't leave it all alone over there because she loved it so much. :-) I started several more from seeds and passed them on to my daughters so we all have a "grandma reminder." Picture attached if I do it right. lol!

Rosie