Gardendaze

Remember the close up of those lovely pink flowers on Wednesday? That was this plant, hibiscus syriacus ‘Sugar Tip.’ Anyone who has grown Rose of Sharon knows that they have a terrible tendency to self sow everywhere unless somehow they are shorn of every last seedling before it falls. I am not sure about you, but I do have other things going on, so I am constantly weeding out or whacking back forests of hibiscus seedling trees.

But this lovely plant is sterile, meaning it drops no seedlings. Because I have mine planted over lawn, this didn’t occur to me right away. I thought perhaps that the mower was mowing them all down (don’t ask me why I didn’t think that they weren’t coming up in the garden bed either).

I did, however, notice that while the plant attracted bees, they never left with any pollen. Odd. So I reached out to Proven Winners who indeed confirmed that the plant is sterile. So no worries about seedlings everywhere.

Since I have planted mine, they have come out with a newer cultivar called Sugar Tip Gold with even more variegation and a yellower edge. I am happy with this variety. And I am really happy about not having to weed out forests of seedlings!