A New Flower Color for your Garden

If you want an unusual flower color for your yard or garden, plant Minerva Rose of Sharon Althea (Hibiscus syriacus 'Minerva') and you'll be awestruck. Pinkish-lavender blooms with red centers are such a standout against the dark-green foliage. And unlike other blink-and-you-miss-their-flowering-season plants, Minerva Hibiscus produces few seeds, which translates to more flowers!

Passing the Test of Time
The U.S. National Arboretum introduced the Minerva in 1986 as a refined and sophisticated cultivar that was more floriferous, more heat-tolerant, and more vigorous than previous varieties.

• Low-maintenance.This is not a fussy plant. You won't even have to prune it to keep it flowering profusely.

• Drought-tolerant.At first, after you plant Minerva Rose of Sharon Althea in your garden, you'll have to keep it watered to help its roots become established. But mature plants are highly drought-tolerant, so you'll only need to water them during long periods of no rainfall.

• Deer-resistant.It's so tough for many gardeners to find plants that deer won't chew to the ground! Although even thorns and thistles won't stop a ravenous deer, Minerva is remarkably deer-resistant.

Easy Care and Design Tips
Finding the perfect planting spot where Minerva Hibiscus will give you her best performance is easy as 1-2-3: 1) full sun, 2) well-drained soil and 3) an early-spring application of a slow-release fertilizer. This well-mannered plant is equally at ease as a landscape specimen or container plant. You'll have to keep container plants watered more often, but the extra effort is worth it if you want to make an impact statement -- plant Minerva shrubs in matching urns on either side of your home's sunny entrance for a glorious show of color all summer!