Call me crazy, but I'm looking at three Rose-of-Sharon to bonsai. Remember, many grow flowering trees and shrubs, not to conform with typical bonsai rules but to make a wide visual experience of "wall-of'flowers". If you can get the shrub to survive in a bonsai pot, prune and train it to be wide from the front and very narrow from the side, it just might be worth the experimentation. OR, just plant it along a fence and prune it the same way and get a yard shrub that makes a great flowering statement without taking up so much space. Jay

Jewelgirl04 I got your email and replied. I would love to trade. I have plenty more if anybody else out there would like some. They are realated to the Hibiscus so they have very large flowers when they bloom. They are seed and spread like crazy. These are extremely easy to make hedges with. :P David

JMC- Blue satin is the most beautiful true blue ROS flower I have ever seen. The foilage is darker green than Lavender Chiffon, looks tropical, and it grows a little faster also. It is a single, sterile flower. I loved it sooo much I also ordered a Violet satin and the flowers on that were incredible! Brandon, I bought both of them through a licensed nursery that always sells on Ebay. THey are a nursery though, and sell proven winners of soooo many plants. They were both healthy and I didn't pay over 9.99 for them. They grew quite nicely also. Do a search on Ebay under Rose of Sharon Blue satin and you will find them. They are propular. GOod Luck!

I live in Canada in a city in Ontario. I believe that I am in Zone 6. I have had Rose of Sharon at my home for a couple of decades. I have pink, purple and white with a red throat, but one day one of my seedlings turned out to have a white bloom with a white throat. My backyard has too much shade and root competition and the Rose of Sharons there have been slow to grow, but my pink one is mature. I also have three Rose of Sharons at the side of my house, located against my brick wall and close to my neighbor's property. It is there that they grow beautifully, with abundant blooms, beginning early. There is a huge difference between these Rose of Sharon and the ones in my backyard. I have determined that the Rose of Sharons require at least several hours of sun or more and a sheltered spot is ideal. I have been growing Rose of Sharon from seed and have found that the shrub will produce blooms in the third year of growth. But last year I decided to take two cuttings from my friend's double Rose of Sharon (hibiscus syriacus). It turned out to be an interesting experiment. Both cuttings "took" and I overwintered the cuttings in my house. Early spring they developed dust mites. When it was warm enough to put them outside in their pots, I did that. They were sprayed for the dust mites. I think the pesticide was too strong for the plant and the leaves curled up. But I proceeded to nuture them! This is what amazed me: the cuttings are quite small (maybe 10 inches high and one of them has buds on it! Now mind you the leaves still don't look that great, but I looking forward to seeing the bloom. My conclusion: much better to take cuttings. I am thinking that by next year the leaves should look "normal."