Sugar Tip® Rose of Sharon

Hardy Hibiscus with bright, variegated foliage! Sugar Tip® Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus 'America Irene Scott') is an eye-catching new Althea with brightly variegated soft green and white foliage! This columnar and space-saving shrub can be a fantastic addition to your garden, or make it more outstanding by creating a tree form by exposing the lower limbs.

The bluish-green leaves have lovely creamy-white margins and are topped with loads of clear pink, double flowers. The blooms fill this shrub from top to bottom, and from mid-summer until fall! Hummingbirds and pollinators will arrive to sip nectar and gather pollen! Related to Tropical and Hardy Hibiscus, Rose of Sharon (also known as Althea) are just as tropical looking, easy to care for, and resilient as their cousins!

Hibiscus Sugar Tip® does not produce seeds like older cultivars which makes it perfect for both southern and northern climates. Growing to a tall 8 to 12 feet in height but only 3-4 feet in width. Hardy throughout USDA growing zones 5 to 8, this Althea is low maintenance and a proud Proven Winner® ColorChoice® specimen for your garden!

Planting and Application:

A confection too delicious to resist, you can use Sugar Tip® as an accent specimen in the garden! The height and columnar growth make it a perfect focal point that adds a multi-tiered showpiece that attracts attention from near and far! Use in pollinator gardens, cottage borders, and anywhere in the sun! Even oversized planters can gain a hefty 'Thriller'!

It is an excellent flowering shrub that may be massed, planted in groups or used as a specimen, or make as a breathtaking defining hedge! You will be the envy of your neighborhood by including Sugar Tip® as a foundation hedge and backdrop to garden beds and borders. One will be an amazing anchor to soften the corners of hardscapes and add height to the garden without taking up a lot of room!

• Clear Light Pink Double Blooms & Dark Pink Eyes
• Gorgeous Soft Green Foliage With Sugary White Variation
• Tall, Columnar Space-Saving Shrub
• Prolific Blooms Summer til Fall
• Hummingbirds & Pollinators Love It!
• Specimen, Accents & Focal Points

#ProPlantTips for Care:

The Althea Sugar Tip® is an easy-to-grow Rose of Sharon in full sun and normal garden soils that are enriched and well-drained. They even tolerate poor soil and can be drought-tolerant once established. Tolerant of summer heat and humidity, Althea appreciates a 3-4 inch thick layer of mulch and regular moisture. Though tolerant of periods of drought, this plant will benefit greatly from a 3 to 4-inch layer of arborist mulch spread to 3 feet outside of the canopy. This will help keep the root system cool in the summer and extend the period between watering. Make sure to water regularly in containers. Feed with organic slow-release fertilizer twice a year in the late winter and mid-summer to keep plants growing and blooming well. This will ensure a proliferation of large flowers beginning in the late spring.

Larger flowers may be obtained by pruning back hard to 2-3 buds in the very early spring. For the largest flowers prune back your Althea in the late winter. Renewal prune every 3-5 years to maintain vigor.

• Full Sun For The Most Blooms
• Moderate Moisture Needs
• Appreciates Mulched Beds
• Prune Early Spring
• Tolerates Most Soils, Including Poor Soil
• Somewhat Drought Tolerant & Salt Tolerant
• Produces Very Few, to Any Viable Seeds

A confectionery of the best kind, the Sugar Tip® Rose of Sharon will make you the envy of your neighborhood! This garden plant is sure to provide many years of enjoyment! Order now at Nature Hills Nursery!