Yet another Rose Of Sharon problem question. Sorry.

[RightSaidFred]

Hello! I have searched through the forum and found a few other posts with this problem, but I thought I would ask again and add pictures.

I have a mature Rose Of Sharon shrub/tree that has not grown leaves in specific areas for two years. The tree is not against any walls, it has access to sun at all angles, but did not leaf in what I would consider the rear last year. It is not showing any signs of producing leaves on the same wood this year, in fact it has spread to the whole center and center front of the tree where it leafed and bloomed last year. If the bark is scratched the wood seems to be healthy, but it doesn't want to produce leaves or blooms. However, some of the wood near the top on of the nonproducing wood is dead and breaks off easily.

The bark of the shrub is peeling off at the base, where it is worst seems to be where the branches that originally weren't blooming stem from. My husband and kids used to pour out their unwanted beverages from car rides in that area- milk, juice, coffee, cola- and I don't know if that has damaged the tree to the point where it's not going to recover.

I asked the landscaper we used to redo our yards about the health of the tree, but he couldn't give me any information. My husband would like to remove it if it will not be leafing or blooming in the affected areas, but I hate to do something so drastic as it's a great privacy plant for our walkway and it's about 10 years old. Cutting it out would leave a huge hole in the plant - it's in my front yard so it would look a bit odd.

We don't do anything special to it- we're lazy gardeners- no fertilizer, mulch or water other than when it rains.

I'm wondering- Is that wood able to recover? Should I pull the whole thing out? Just remove the non leafing/blooming wood?

Thank you so much for letting me share my problem!

Here are the pictures (I am sorry there are so many of them, I just wanted to make sure you got the most information):

base of the plant, the bark peeling off:
[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/ottermum/Pictures%20for%20RGB/IMG_0343.jpg[/img]

the plant a few weeks ago:
[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/ottermum/Pictures%20for%20RGB/IMG_0344.jpg[/img]

The shrub today:
[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/ottermum/Pictures%20for%20RGB/IMG_0436.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/ottermum/Pictures%20for%20RGB/IMG_0437.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/ottermum/Pictures%20for%20RGB/IMG_0438.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/ottermum/Pictures%20for%20RGB/IMG_0439.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/ottermum/Pictures%20for%20RGB/IMG_0441.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/ottermum/Pictures%20for%20RGB/IMG_0447.jpg[/img]

The ends I cut today (sorry it's not clearer):
[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/ottermum/Pictures%20for%20RGB/IMG_0442.jpg[/img]

[rainbowgardener]

I'm not any kind of tree / shrub expert, but I've lived with a couple different rose of sharon shrubs. In my experience they are very vigorous hardy shrubs that are constantly putting up new shoots (all over the yard! I now have a rose of sharon on the opposite side of the house from the one I planted). It may not look good for awhile, but if it were me, I think I would just cut all the damaged wood out (at ground level) and let it grow back.

[shadowsmom]

I agree with rainbowgardener. I've cut them to the ground to get rid of them and they still send up shoots. It's basically a weed in my yard. I pull out seedlings all the time.

[RightSaidFred]

Thank you so much!! Do you think fertilizing the soil could help? We were thinking that maybe after all the years of various liquids we may have contaminated it.