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Old 17-07-2005, 03:32 AM
paghat
 
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In article .com,
"Newsgroups" wrote:

My mom would like to give me some Rose of Sharon that she has in her
yard. These were given to my mom many years ago by an Uncle and I don't
want to do anything before knowing the correct way to do it.

Is there a particular time of year that I can take these from my mom's
garden and put in my garden? Is the summer too not to do this? When
would the best time of year be to move them.

Thank you all in advance.


Several plants are called rose of sharon & the name is especially apt to
connote different plants in England than in the USA. If you mean Hibiscus
syriacus, an old established shrub might or might not transplant
successfully but it's certainly worth a try. Small specimens (three to
five feet) transplant with great success. If it is a fertile variety that
self-seeded all over the garden (as you indicate your mom has a lot of
them) the young plants are very easy to transplant by getting a big gob of
their soil &amp not damaging their roots at all. But really old big woody
specimens will end up getting their roots hacked up pretty badly by a move
& will be sensitive for their first year. The hard thing to balance is
that it won't be drought-hardy until it re-establishes its hacked up
roots, but it will be at risk of root rot if kept too wet during the
must-be-watered period. After it re-establishes it might never need
watering ever again depending on your local weather patterns.

I would be most inclined to move an adult hibiscus in late winter or early
spring, as if it is moved in autumn it could rot during its first winter
while it is at its weakest from the shock (if your winters are as rainy as
ours).

It is also easy to start rose-of-sharon hibiscus from summer softwood
cuttings & they transplant from out of starting-pots without shock
(seedlings rarely look like the parents, & some varieties are entirely
sterile so can only be started from cuttings). If you're transplanting
really large shrubs, I'd simultaneously start some cuttings in pots, so in
case they don't transplant successfully you'll still have the same
variet(ies) from the cuttings.

If the plant you mean is aaron's beard or saint john's wart, Hypericum
calycinum is over-used, invasive, & weedy, a threat to all perennials in
its vincinity. There are much better saint john's warts to be planting, &
one with blooms as large & showy at H. calycinum is sold as 'Hidcote.'

-paghat the ratgirl
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