We have a kind of bush/wood shrub present on the property. These are mature. We have three, and I might want to get a couple of more to plant. The ones we have are kept cut back, but are 6-8-10 feet high as they grow throughout the year. They green with leaves, and develop white blooms late spring-early summer. My elderly dad says that he thinks that they were called "St. Joseph" something or other, but Dad is elderly. Unfortunately, I can't show a leaf because there are none this time of year. Can anyone help or point me? Thanks.

 

Pretty tough to ID a bush with no leaves.

 

Yep, hence my question here. I thought that maybe there was something to the "St. Joseph" and that maybe someone here might have an idea about it or a way to narrow things down. Thanks.

 

Where are you located? I'm guessing somewhere in the northern half of the country.

 

I live in the Philadelphia area.

 

In Philly here too - but unfortunately don't recognize it based on the bark and the way it's growing out of the ground.

Good news though, all the nurseries are closed as they aren't essential. So you have a few weeks before you can buy much!

 

Maybe some local variety of crepe myrtle. Hard telling.

I have no idea what that means.

 

OK, I am updating this post with current pictures, if that helps any one help me. The blooms occur in early summer, starting out as white and then going to purple and/or pink.

 

I guess......Hibiscus/Rose of Sharon

 

And your guess appears to be correct. And what is really great is that apparently I can make more of the same plant from cuttings!

Thanks!

 

The most reliable way I've found to propagate is to let a lower branch or water shoot get long. Then get a 1 gallon or larger plastic landscape or flower pot with drainage holes and fill it with dirt or potting soil. Gently bend a branch down and lay it over the pot so it touches the dirt. Put on a handful of mulch or potting soil and hold it down with a brick. Then in a few months you can remove the brick and feel if the branch is rooted. If it is then cut the branch leading to the parent tree and you are left with a rooted start ready to plant somewhere else.

 

.Sounds good, in that the donor material stays attached to the mother plant. But I don't know if I want to do the setup in the bed I am trying to cleanup. In any case... if successful, does the branch root in several places? I am trying to picture the result. Assuming rooting does occur, I would want a successful transplant by fall.

Bear in mind, I am outside Philly, and it is now mid-late July. Also, I probably want to do a few of these, as I doubt a 100% success rate. But who knows? Thanks.

 

Using a live branch allows you to propagate any time the plant is actively growing so you can even do it during the worst part of summer. If taking cuttings you need to be more careful about the climate as 100f and sunny is no time for a plant to survive without roots. You can look up your plant online and see what age wood is best for cuttings. I usually take a couple each of new and medium age wood. One of them has a good chance of surviving. One thing to note is many commercially grown Rose of Sharon are grafted. You may not end up with as vigorous a plant. It will be the same Rose of Sharon you have but without the stronger root stock so it might not grow as strongly.

 

To update... this was likely not a grafted plant. My elderly dad thinks that these came from cutting(s) that were given to him, or perhaps one cutting that he grew and later took cuttings from THAT plant.

As far as my current endeavor... the large one out back has not had its bed cleaned and remulched, so there are other plants at its base and in its bed. Some weeds, stray grass, suckers... and perhaps some seedling Rose of Sharons. I am guessing that transplanting a seedling beats developing a cutting. I will have to look closely. I have to watch, because there has been poison ivy in that area in the past.