This is a plant I remember from my youth. Every man and his dog had one, Im sure. I was in my late teens, just starting to study horticulture, when I found out the name of this hibiscus. Its an Apple Blossom Hibiscus. It always made me think of tropical places as a kid. I guess Hibiscus will do that to you, but its actually from China. Blew my little mind when I found out. Its one of those lovely large shrubs, that can handle a good prune when it gets too big. Even if you take it back to fairly bare stems, it will usually reshoot and look quite shrubby again after a few months. They do have the bad habit of all hibiscus, of having a branch randomly dying off for no apparent reason. Its just what it does, I have no explanation as to why. They are a rewarding shrub though, fairly hard to kill once established and very rewarding with flowers. This one grows in an area that receives no reticulation and the only maintenance it has received, was to cut it down to 2m tall about 18 months ago. Cant even tell where we've pruned it now. Tough as old boot hide and good on it too.
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