Those leaves look very much like my mature rose of sharon. I'm not familiar with the growth pattern at this age. Do you have more than one plant going on there?

Looks Like Rose-of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) to me!

Linda

It's just one plant. It's a large gangly looking shrub that needs some pruning! It's even bigger than this now! Wasn't sure if it was ok to prune now or if I needed to wait until spring or fall time frame?

I dont know. my Althea, just what we have always called them, has more rounded leaves. similar but noticeably different. Mine are about 30 years old so dont know if that makes a difference or not.

Mike

Not sure if pruning it now would hurt it. Hopefully, someone will come a long with a little more experience. Like Mike, mine are very old and I don't think anything would kill it at this point. Mine were kept pruned and look like trees now. I really enjoy their constant blooms in the height of summer when everything else seems dead. I prefer to prune mine in fall, but I don't think it would matter for mine any more.

You could get away with pruning now, but if there is a factor to attack it when it's weak it might be rough for it. Bugs, drought, lack of food, too much shade, etc. could all harm it when it's weak. So, it's usually best to wait until the opportune time to prune.

Rose of Sharon pruning

Hmm...I was really hoping it was rose of Sharon. I will have to take some leaves and pictures of it to our local greenhouse and ask.

It looks like a tree that was cut back and sprouted up. It is not growing like my rose o Sharon and the leaves are very pointy although similar in a way. It is very easy to get a nice rose o Sharon. Buy a small one for about $6; they grow fast. I really like Diana although there are other pretty ones. Rose o Sharon are common shrubs see if you can compare yours in person to a known rose of Sharon. Pictures don't show you how the leaves feel and the texture does not show up in a picture.

helenh,, I had the exacts same thought, a tree thats been cut back. The bottom growth looks like suckers. Is there a stump in the middle?

I have sucker trees that come up like that in the middle of my rose of sharon, but I don't think they are the same plant. There are a few leaves in yours that do look more like the rose of sharon I have, though, the ones with the leaf lobes more conjoined rather than separate. I took a few pictures of mine tonight to show the difference in my plant ...

Rose of Sharon with buds today

Sucker tree

Both together to compare leaf shape

Mia. I have the same trees popping up everywhere. My rose of sharon/Althea leaves.

Thanks guys! My shrub does look just like the sucker tree pic above. It's a little surprising that is what it is. The people who lived in the house before paid lots of money 2 years ago to put in landscaping. Maybe it was a tree that broke or they had to cut down?? Either way I will probably end up digging it up and putting something prettier there! I have lots of other landscaping shrubs that I'm planning to replace as well :)

It works the other way around too. I could have been a tree and a rose of sharon volunteered close to it. I have lots of rose of sharon seedlings coming up everywhere from the yard next door. They seed as aggressively as some trees, the non-hybrids do, that is. One of the improved varieties would be much nicer and give you a heavier blooming shrub. There are even some very pretty double blossom types. They are very tough and drought hardy.

Didn't read the whole thread, but wonder if anyone else thought the mystery sprout was some type of mulberry?

My grandfather always had rose of sharons up till he died does this look like a young rose an sharon?