Photos
I think this might be 'Helene', a very old variety, or possibly Red Heart.
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| early July 2018 |
There are several cultivars that have white flowers with red centers, but 'Helene' looks the most like what is here. It does have some double petals in the interior.
'Helene' should look like this, very flowery and dense. It's sterile, so it should bloom a long time and set no seedlings.
Until we took out the Spanish broom in 2021, it was stuffed in behind the broom, and the gangly branches rose above, so we saw blooms only over the top of the broom.
Very awkward looking, as Rose of Sharon can be, but this one was particularly scrungy looking -- leaning, open and branchy. Flowering was not profuse, probably from the shade and crowding. I pruned off what I could.
It started blooming around July 4th the first year we were here. I haven't seen any seedlings.
It got a bad case of aphids in 2019, stunting the blooms, and every year since we've had Coates do a soil drench in early spring. That has stopped the problem.
'Helene' should look like this, very flowery and dense. It's sterile, so it should bloom a long time and set no seedlings.
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| What 'Helene' is supposed to look like in bloom |
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| July 20, 2018 |
It started blooming around July 4th the first year we were here. I haven't seen any seedlings.
It got a bad case of aphids in 2019, stunting the blooms, and every year since we've had Coates do a soil drench in early spring. That has stopped the problem.
Although the plant in 2020 had sparse leaves and an awkward, open look, the flowering turned out to be really great.
In 2021 it flowered well, but was still open and leggy and malformed from the encroaching Spanish broom.
Finally . . . in 2021 we took out the broom, I pruned it back hard in winter 2022 and in spring it started leafing out really well.
Hopefully it will now have a nicer shape and will bloom well in the open in sun.