Rose of Sharon

Gail H

My Rose of Sharon is in full bloom right now. Since it's related to hibiscus and mallow, I thought that I would gather some of the flowers for tea. Does anyone use these? Do you dry just the petals or the entire flower?

What (if anything) have you found the flowers to be useful for? I occasionally munch on one, but that's about it .I do use very young leaves in salad.

greyfurball

Actually everything you have said here is news to me. I've always just enjoyed them for their pretty little blossoms.

I'll actually have to start thinking of them as a harvest also. Thanks

judsoncarroll4

I have not used it, but here is info - I was surprised to find out that three plants are called Rose of Sharon:

http://www.naturalmedicinalherbs.net/herbs/h/hypericum-calycinum=rose-of-sharon.php

http://www.naturalmedicinalherbs.net/herbs/h/hibiscus-sinosyriacus=rose-of-sharon.php

http://www.naturalmedicinalherbs.net/herbs/h/hibiscus-syriacus=rose-of-sharon.php

PS. The first link is to a member of the St. John's Wort Family - not to the bush type in the mallow family that we commonly call Rose of Sharon.

Torey

@judsoncarroll4 Good point about knowing the Latin name of the species you are going to be harvesting. I'm sure it is one of the Hibiscus species that @Gail H is referring to but the Hypericum species shouldn't be used similarly to the Hibiscus species, despite the same common name. Always make sure you know the Latin on something you purchase under a common name.

judsoncarroll4

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/866925#Comment_866925

Definitely!

Hassena

This is intriguing!

Hibiscus syriacus was the only hibiscus we don't use. We do have it growing around our property. However we never offered it to our animals. I used to work at a zoo, doing lots of plant research on what we could feed to the animals. The primates and some reptiles love hibiscus flowers. However Rose of Sharon we never offered to the animals because of toxicity concerns.

https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/rose-sharon

Researching more, I don't see this plant as being toxic to goats... http://poisonousplants.ansci.cornell.edu/goatlist.html

Now that we have our own farm (that feels like a zoo somedays ahaha), we look seek more forage plants. Generally three resources are my minimum. Researching the potential edibility and toxicity of a plant before use.

Excited to learn more about the potential of these.

Thanks for posting this. =)