I have a couple dozen of the things in my border. I had heard that they only bloom on new growth, and that it was a good idea to prune it back about a 1/3 every year. Hooey. I tried that with a couple of them, and that set them back a couple years. They flower just fine with no pruning. They don't grow very quickly at all around here, maybe 6" to a foot a year, but the later is if they are fertilized and watered regularly.

None of which explains your problem. I would try giving it a heavy dose of compost, or perhaps toss a cup of granular fertilizer at the base. If that doesn't pick it up, then it might just be a dwarf sport of the species, or something.

In the first two or three years, this shrub behaved like the others by it. It was only two years ago that it started this stunted appearance. I do trim mine back some every year, to keep them uniform in size and more compact and full in foliage. This one didn't get trimmed this year -- I trimmed all the others to equal its size, but now they've grown well above its size, while it hasn't grown at all.

Mine are clearly growing more than 6" a year, since all the others have already grown a foot or more taller than this one (and they were pruned to equal its height in the spring).

Any more thoughts, folks?

They can get something called Cotton Root Rot, but have never seen it here.
I know they like plenty of water and grow much faster with it, but I assume you've already checked to make sure its dripper is working properly.
Also, they seem to like a good top dressing of manure.
Even though the stunted one looks like it's neighbors, could it a seedling? They sure grow easy from seed.

I probably should have been clearer about the seedling - are these "named" varieties or were they just labeled "rose of sharon"? They could have been seed grown rather than clones, with some being better growers than others.

A new one to me:

I got my Rose of Sharon start from one of those awful "Year Around Flowering Hedge!! Only $1.29 for 20 flowering shrubs!!!!" I received two colors, one a reddish purple, and one like the photo directly above, white with a red center. The plants in the "Fabulous Offer !!!!" were all the size of gnawed, 1/2 pencils with a strand of hair for a root. I think I broke off half of them picking them up out of the box.

Anywho, they are easy to propagate, and I don't have much problem with them turning into weeds, which seems to be the case elsewhere around the country.

There are some beautiful, larger blooming blue ones that are spectacular, and I would love to have some.

These shrubs were all bought as named varieties in 5-gallon pots when I first landscaped my home six years ago. These five are a double-flowered variety (I think it's 'Lucy'). They actually don't produce any seedlings for me, but I do get occasional seedlings from some single-flowered ones on the other side of the yard.

They seemed to perform equally well until just a few years ago, when this one started looking stunted. All of my others, including the single-flowered ones, are doing great with water from the drip system. I've grown Rose of Sharon at previous homes, too, and never found them to have any problems. They haven't seemed to fussy about water, they have all flowered very well and grew at a good pace. Maybe because they've always been trouble-free in the past, I've not been careful enough with this one. I will try giving it extra water each week and regular fertilizer and see if I can perk it up.

My biggest concern, though, is that I don't know if I'm already giving it too much water, causing root problems, or if I'm not giving it enough. But if you're saying they like plenty of water, Cnetter, then I'll assume I haven't been providing enough. I have visually checked that the drip emitter is working properly, but I haven't put it in a bucket to see how much it emits per hour. Maybe I'll do that with this one and some of the other ones to see if there's a significant difference in the water the others are getting compared to this one.

Hi Steve,

When I first saw the size difference in the first picture, I immediately thought of a virus, but I googled it, and canÂt find any indication at all that theyÂre susceptible to viruses. When I look at the second picture close up, the leaves and buds sure do look healthy (certainly not like they have a virus), but if you say theyÂre losing their shine compared to the other bushes, possibly underwatering is a problem. There are lots of houseplants that you can tell when to water them by watching for them to loose the shine on their leaves.

Could there possibly be enough difference in the soil around that one to be making the difference? I ask that only because in my yard, I can dig into the soil in one spot and the soil (clay) is amazingly friable and really not bad at all to be planting in, BUT if I dig in to plant something just a foot away, the soil (same color clay) could be used on a potterÂs wheel! IÂve even had some hen & chicks IÂve had to dig up and IÂm "reviving" them in a pot right now because they just werenÂt making it in the soil they were in. Since the area where they were gets watered, I think it was just staying too wet for semps.

I donÂt think itÂs very likely at all that your going to overwater the ailing bush! My neighbor has 3 rose-of-sharonÂs right on the other side of the fence from my tomatoesÂwhich get watered a LOT. Also, the end of that area is where one of the main house gutters comes down, and when we do get rain, the whole area gets really, really soaked. Usually thatÂs earlier in spring before the tomatoes are in! The only effect IÂve noticed it having on the neighborÂs bushes is that theyÂre growing like crazy (above the top of the fence now and starting to shade my tomatoes a little bit!), and when I dig in that area to turn over the veggie garden in spring, there are more and more and more of the hibiscus roots coming into my garden because they seem to really like the water there! So I wouldnÂt worry about giving them a really, really deep and slow soaking to see if it seems to make any difference.

Good luck
Skybird

I think the beautiful blue one David is refering to is Blue Satin, which is quite hot right now. I need to take a new picture since the one above was taken years ago when the plant was six inches tall. It's a lot bigger now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Satin thread