Expert: Tom Alonzo - 7/9/2009

Question
I have a Rose of Sharon Tree/Standard in my Perennial Garden that I planted three years ago. It stands about 4.5 ft tall. (However, I purchased it from a mail-order nursery already in standard form.) Each season it leafs out thick and full and then flowers all summer season.  This year, in mid-march, we had 8" of snow and a hard freeze. (I live in zone 6-7, panhandle of Texas) Everything in my perennial garden seemed unphased by this late freeze, but I soon realized the Rose of Sharon was not leafing out and still stands as bare wood in my garden.  As of today, 07-09-09, I noticed around the base of the trunk, at the ground level, it has put on tons of fresh green leafy growth.  Almost like a new plant is coming out of the ground.  

My question is WHAT DO I DO?  I bought it for the standard/tree form, the top is now dead woody branches, the base is starting over.  How do I prune it and when?  Should I go ahead and remove the trunk and top branches that are dead, all the way down to the green leafy growth at ground level and wait years to train it back into a standard/topiary form?

Answer
Hi Meg,
Thanx for your question.  What you describe is typical of shrubs and trees that have survived a late winter or early spring hard freeze.  A young plant will often die back to the ground and then spring forward in early summer as yours appears to be doing.  Determine the dead portions of the shrub and cut those pieces off.  The Rose-of-Sharon is Hibiscus syriacus, a member of the hibiscus family and will return to tree form eventually.  What you need to do is if it starts suckering (sending numerous shoots around the main growth area), keep those trimmed to the strongest single growth.  The plant will eventually return to tree growth.  You can then prune the shrub in the fall to help direct it into tree form.  I hope this helps.
Tom