Rose of Sharon

I have several of these shrubs in my yard in assorted colors, so I think of them as Rose of Ruth, though actually they aren’t a rose at all but a kind of mallow. There are a profusion of flowers over the summer, often blooming through heat that wilts lesser shrubs, but each bloom only lasts a day. 
Native to Asia, it was established as a garden plant in Europe in the 1500s, and here in the U.S. by the 1700s. It is the national flower of South Korea, pictured on national emblems and mentioned in their national anthem. There they use most parts of the plant for something, including eating the flowers. In my garden, I leave those for the wildlife. 
In many parts of the country they are considered invasive, but in my garden the few shrubs that came with the house when I bought it haven’t shown any signs of seeding, though they are now all really robust and way taller than me. I like them because they attract a lot of pollinators, including bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. When looking up at them against the sky, they appear so delicate and translucent they almost seem to be made of some kind of colorful tissue paper, nature’s origami.