| Scientific Name: | Hibiscus syriacus |
| Common Name: | hardy hibiscus, rose of Sharon |
| Family Name: | Malvaceae |
| Origin: | S.E. Asia / Japan / China, South Asia / India |
| Hardiness Zone: | Zone 5: (-29 to -23 °C) |
| Plant Type: | Shrub - deciduous |
| Mature Size: | 2 - 3m x 1.5 - 2.0m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Upright |
| Form: | Vase |
| Texture: | Medium |
| Landscape Uses: | Attract butterflies, Fall interest, Hedge row, Mixed shrub border, Screening, Summer interest |
| Exposure: | Full sun, Part sun/part shade |
| Soil or Media: | Humus rich, Well-drained |
| Leaves: | Simple, Lobed, Alternate, Soft flexible, Palmate venation, Glabrous, Lustrous, Ovate, Rhomboidal, Dentate, Incised |
| Flowers: | Cyme, White, Blue, Violet, Red, Sep-Oct |
| Fruit: | Capsule, Aborted (hybrids) or absent, Brown, Oct-Nov, (Persistent) |
| Key ID Features: | |
| Shrub upright, vase-shaped, stems gray; leaves alternate, ovate, most blades 5-8cm long x 2-4cm wide, coursely toothed, palmately veined, 3 major lobes towards apex on most cvs., light green, stipules 4-7mm long x <0.5mm wide; flowers trumpet-shaped to head-like with multiple petals, 5-10cm wide, 5 to many petals, solitary or cymose. Winter ID: branches whitish, upright; persistent 5-valved capsules; buds alternate with small hairs; leaf scar crescent shaped with many bundle scars in 3 or 4 groups; hair-like stipules may persist. | |