Hibiscus syriacus 'America Irene Scott' SUGAR TIP® Rose-of-Sharon
Hibiscus
Rose-of-Sharon deserves more attention for its abundant flowering in summer. These maintenance-free shrubs come from eastern Asia and are the inevitable ingredient of every summer garden which they highlight with a wide range of coloured flowers. There has been a number of cultivars available since its discovery. They have various bloom colours, shapes and sizes, as well as variegated leaves.
Sugar Tip® is a unique Rose-of-Sharon variety, one of the very few with variegated foliage. Its flowers are 6-7 cm across, fully double, very soft pink with deep burgundy red eye in the centre which is difficult to see for the many dwarf petals. Blooming usually begins in late July and continues until sunny and warm days of September. Deciduous leaves are narrowly palmate, deeply lobed, pale green with elegant, thin, creamy white margins. They emerge late so don't worry about frost damage when you don't see any growth in a spring garden that is green almost all around. Sugar Tip is a compact variety reaching only about 1.5m tall in 10 years and its ultimate mature height is expected not to exceed 2.5m. SUGAR TIP® was discovered by Sharon Gerlt from Independence in Missouri, USA, in 2001 as a mutation of Lady Stanley variety. US plant patent No. PP20579 was granted in 2009.
Regular pruning of shrubby hibiscus is not necessary or even welcome, though, you can re-juvenate old plants once every 5 or 7 years but cutting off 1/3 to 1/2 of its size, ideally in spring after all frosts.
Rose-of-Sharon is quite adaptable of soil type. It likes a lot of water and if you make sure that your new plant is not put to standing water at the beginning it will be happy for occasional flooding in summer. In other words, hibiscus hate drought and becomes leggy and thin at the bottom. Older plants dislike peat. Selective fertilizers for better flowering are convenient. Place it in full sun only. Fully hardy to min. -27 °C (USDA zone 5).
Last update 29-08-2019; 13-05-2023
