My Rose of Sharon is indestructible. I'd put it in the ground.

If it doesn't take, ask your sister for some volunteer seedlings in the spring. I have hundreds that come up each year.

This is funny and a coincidence. Just yesturday I removed 25 rose of sharon trees, roots and all. I planted them very closely years ago along my fence to give me privacy from cars going down my small lane. I kept them pruned to about 5 feet high-just at the level of someone's head sitting down in a car and looking over. It was good privacy but now I think it is junky looking. That same evening, the neighbors were walking down the lane and yelled out to me (I was inside the house in a solarium, sitting down and not facing the lane) "hey Lucille, what happened to the rose of sharons?" I waved my hand backward to acknowledge them. Gads, I am now soo exposed in my solarium that anyone can see in especially in the evening. So now I have the wonderful task of figuring out what I am going to put on this side for privacy. What about a leather leaf viburnun?( By the way, I did not dig those roots out by myself. I do not have a cleaning person, but I do hire someone to help me in my garden.)