The story behind this Rose of Sharon goes like this.
When I was younger I used to spend the summer months with my grandma in the country. She loved flowers and had so many, but she also had her favorites. Her property was lined with many rose of sharons, they were all white, pink and purple, but only one color per plant and they were all the single old fashioned kind.
When I was about 10 she taught me how to look for the baby rose of sharons at the base of the plant. She also told me that you never know what kind of new flowering type you might get. I honestly didnt understand at the time and so I didnt pay much attention. She always gave her baby rose of sharons to people and she kept a few for herself.
When she died I dug up her rose of sharons because a new property owner was going to bulldoze everything away. I gave my sisters some and I kept some. One of the rose of sharons that I dug up was just a little baby. I planted them in a line in my front yard and waited. All of the rose of sharons bloomed except for the youngest one. I thought maybe it was still too young, but after a few years I started to wonder if it was ever going to bloom.
Finally, about a week ago the rose of sharon had a bud on it. The bud looked red and I knew it didnt look like the other buds on the other plants, so I waited patiently for it to bloom. The next morning it bloomed! At first I thought something was wrong with it, it certainly looked different. I grabbed my camera and took a picture. I showed the picture to my mom and she said she has never seen a rose of sharon like that. I then called my sister and told her about it, she also said she has never heard of a rose of sharon like that and she grows rose of sharons also. I told my sister that I was going to name the new rose of sharon after my grandma, Wilma. Her nickname was Wilma Wild.
The rose of sharon is very light pink, almost white, with a dark pink blotch on one side of each petal. Basically, it is bi-colored. Plus, with the red blotches on the inside center of the petals, it really makes the flower stand out even more. Also, with the shape of the petals and the colors the flower looks as though it is swirling. A very unique and special rose of sharon!
That is definitely unique; please PM me as we might be able to work something out with the nursery I work for. I think Granny may have left an inheritance she didn't know about!
I am taking some more pictures. So far, I took a picture of the bud and just this morning a picture of the flowering getting ready to open. I will wait for the flower to fully bloom and I will take a picture of the second beautiful flower from this rose of sharon and then I will post the pictures.
Of course, these pictures look different from the first picture I took. The first picture was taken in the evening in shade, so the picture looks softer. These pictures were just taken this morning in the heat of the sun. The flower seems a bit small, weak. However, the shrub is still young.
