This photo shows the beautiful flowers and flower buds of a hybridized non-native shrub. It is a kind of hibiscus called Rose of Sharon. The name is confusing because it is not a rose.

This plant can grow into a small tree reaching maybe 15 feet tall. It usually will produce several trunks growing from a common root system, but can be trimmed to one. The lanky trunks have flower-laden branches that bloom from late July into autumn. Often the ground under the Rose of Sharon becomes littered with spent flower petals by mid August.

The Rose of Sharon is not native to Southeast Missouri and can become invasive. How this hibiscus got its unusual name has been debated for centuries, but it seems to have been mentioned as such in the King James Version of the Bible.

I took this photo in early August.