Hi, the white poppy is California Alba, sorry I didn't realize I had mispelled it on my trade list. It over winters in some of zone 7 and others as an annual. Long ago Native Americans in California used this poppy for tooth aches and headache pain. It doesn't have the strong alkaloids of opiate poppy but was also used as a food source (root and leaves). The lavender poppy is a bread poppy with a gorgeous laender bloom. Take care, Happyseed

Are you sure there is only one trunk coming out of the ground? I bought one several years ago that was supposed to be double lavender. It had two trunks. One plant is lavender and the other is the double deep pink (so called red). I do know that some of the mail order nurseries (i.e., Burgess, Henry Fields, Four Seasons)advertise grafted altheas with different colored blooms on one bush. I would guess you may have one of these.

See if your ROS develops leaves this year. Plants can't "eat" if they don't have leaves. Could the bugs have eaten every single leaf on your bush? It didn't have even one or two leaves last year? I don't think a plant or bush or tree can survive without leaves. Pruning wouldn't have killed it, they are tough bushes. Hopefully, you will see life soon on your twigs. Keep your eye out for them soon, my ROS are already waking up with a little new growth. Good Luck!

Hi Mary-Jane, How much sunlight, water and fertilizer does the plant get? I started some seed very late in the season last year (July or August). They grew to about 3"-4" before first frost. This year they came up early, then got nipped by that strange spring cold-snap. Most of them are back up to about 6" now, with one outstanding individual at 15" and growing. I don't expect to see blooms until next year on any of them. They get East and West sun, are in average garden soil, receive water about once a week (when the soil dries down an inch from the surface) and I fed them with an 8 week time released bloom-booster fertilizer twice this year. My past experiences with rose of sharon hibiscus has been, on average, about two to three years from seed to bloom but that was in a warmer climate, Zone 8-9. I don't know if that will hold true in colder climates, like zone 5-6 that I'm living in now. I wouldn't expect that you'd have to wait longer than 3-4 years under good to fair growing conditions, then again, some plants have other ideas, lol. Regards, Dan