Family: Malvaceae (mal-VAY-see-ee)
Genus: Hibiscus (hi-BIS-kus)
Species: syriacus (seer-ee-AK-us)
A bumblebee enjoys nectar from a Rose of Sharon, also known as Althea. This plant is a relative of hibiscus but, unlike most hibiscus, is hardy and is easily grown in this zone. The plant (actually a shrub that can reach eight to ten feet in height) flowers heavily and continually from early summer until almost frost. It's only bad habit, which is not too bad, is that the flowers, when shed, can make a rather unsightly mess under the shrub. I guess I can live with that; the flowers are really pretty, and attract bees and other beneficial insects. There are varieties of Althea that have white, purple or pink blooms. This one happens to be a light pink, with deep pink throats.
Here's a blossom without a bee:
Today's Flowers is a weekly Meme created by Luiz Santilli, Jr. and currently hosted by Luiz Santilli, Jr., Denise Gullickson, Laerte Pupo and Valkyrien, and may be found here. Please visit to see others' lovely flower photos. If you have a flower photo of your own to share, please join us.
44 comments:
Beautiful, Pat. I'm fond of the Rose of Sharon. Nice memories.
Have a wonderful Sunday, snapping more flower photos. Abe's been out walking around the backyard, looking to see if there's anything new blooming.
Lovely flower. The bee makes the photo even nicer. Wonderful shot Pat,
Have a nice day..
I am so impresssed when people can tell one rose from another! To me it is a rose - and a beautiful rose! :) Love the little visitor!
I love this flower.
Amazing! Thanks for sharing.
My rose of sharon is blooming, too. I especially love the blue and green in your top photo. Rich.
wow that's pretty light pink flower. lovely post.
Very nice.Many photogarph has bee into the flowers.
It's good to see all these bees, it's important that bees are stil here on our palnet.
What you do know about flowers - I'm impressed. So I hope the bumblebee is ;-)
Pat, I love Altheas. I want lots and lots of doubles. I have the single Althea.
Yours is beautiful!!
Thank you for sharing the information and photo with us.
Smiles from Jackie
That tears it, I am going to have to get a Rose of Sharon for I really miss my hibiscus. Really nice shots.
I grow rose of Sharon, mine looks a little different. Yours on show is very pretty, they are such beautiful, plants to enjoy in the garden. The photos are lovely with the visitors.
Pat I love Rose of Sharon. One of our customers has 5 very large ones. I think the worst part about them is the amount of bumblebees it attracts. Can't get near the things to mow except in the early morning hours.
Very nice shots. =)
Beautiful flower Pat---including the bee.
Hope you have had a good weekend.
Hugs,
Betsy
I love this plant since it is such great summer color. One other drawback is that they make a lot of seedlings. We used to have two Rose of Sharons in the back yard, now there are several hundred.
Beautiful flowers Pat, love to see that little bumblebee in your top photo. They are such industrious little things and really interesting to watch. Thank you so much for sharing them. Have a great week.
It grows here in the Willamette Valley too, as do many plants that do well in the South. I very much like it.
Love this variety!The petals are different from the one I grow which resemble a Hibiscus! Lovely!
Ah, white is really dainty, so delicate looking and i love your visitor. Have a nice week!
Beautiful, especially the first one. I love the sky behind it.
Lovely flowers. great capture of the bumblebee!
An Arkies Musings
What a beautiful shrub. The flowers are so dainty looking. Wonderful photos!
Pat: What a neat shot with the bee, very cool.
Rose of Sharon is sweet, and the bee is loving it!
I didn't know what a Rose of Sharon looked like. I've heard of them but they don't grow up her on Vancouver Island. Nice capture of the bee.
Beautiful photos! So glad I found a fellow Arkansas gal through Kate's Chronicles of a Country Girl! Hope you'll check us out at stickhorsecowgirls! V.
oh my God...very sweet capture..congrats, dear and have a nice week
graceolsson.com/blog
A very robust shrub indeed, in my gardenthe lilac one flowers all year round.
Beatuful shots with the bumble bee.
I wish the rose of Sharon flowered as soon and as well in my gardens! Love the bee. ;-)
Here's a funny tale. When we first bought our house ten years ago, this strange looking plant that looked like a weed kept coming up in my yard. Year after year I would yank it out. Finally one year before I had a chance to pull it, a beautiful flower appeared. I was so excited and later found out from my then neighbor that it was a Rose of Sharon. They now line a third of my yard and are at least eight feet high. They are purple and pink. And they are persistent!
Thanks for visiting my world. Hope to see you again
I love the Rose of Sharon mainly because of a Religious hymn. The Rose of Sharon Biblically may not be the same as this but who knows for sure.
You are so lucky. You get a bee; I get a fly. I followed a very small butterfly around until I was sweating. It never lit long enough for me to focus. I gave up and went inside.
Lovely Rose of Sharon you've captured :)
Just beautiful, Pat. Your photos always are.
That's very interesting. Very pretty flowers they are. I'm sure I have seen them here.
Great detail in those pictures, when I try to get up close and personal my pics come out fuzzy; might help if I read the instruction book.
Pat
Wonderful post!
Thanks for posting for TODAY'S FLOWERS.
Don´t forget, my friend, next Sunday it will be your "GUEST DAY" on TODAY'S FLOWERS!
You can see now your flowers post there!
Mr. Linky's window opens only Sunday 14:00 gmt.
I will post your link in the first position for comments!
Luiz
A really nice photo!
Beautiful flowers and always good to see insects busy on them - our ecolosystems depend on them after all.
I love photos of flowers with bees. This is lovely.
Nice Shot... I love flowers very much...But have very poor knowledge about their name. Thanks for sharing :)
Hi Pat, how are u?
Have a nice sunday , dear
graceolsson.com/blog
Lovely pictures..
love Rose of Sharon in any colour!!
Thank you visiting and commenting.
Lovely photos - do like these flowers.
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