Hibiscus (Rose of Sharon)? Mallow? It started to bloom the past couple of days (August 14th). Is this normal? It hasn't been cut back in years and is a large prominent bush in a mostly sunny area of our apartment block.
It looks to me like Hibiscus syriacus, Rose of Sharon. Purple ones have been used as street trees on Thurlow St in Vancouver (in traffic-snarling corner plantings at Davie and south for a block or two) and are looking spectacular right now.
bpither, I'm concerned that you might think these will be large specimens worth a special trip. They're fairly new plantings, quite small. But very colourful. All the guys at my building's four o'clock club have noticed them.
Ron means 'Red Heart' for the original posting, the white flower. The Thurlow ones are supposed to be 'Bluebird', according to the Parks Board. There's one at Burnaby and Thurlow that looks more 'Bluebird' colour to me. I'd have thought these were too purple for that cultivar, but I know nothing about these hibiscus, and it's probably likely they all came in with the same tag. And maybe that cultivar can have that much colour variation.
'Osieu Bleu' (correct name) is a definite light blue. These are something else, with the reddish coloring like that of the typical species.
