Rose of Sharon is a Mallow in the Hibiscus family. Easily grown as a showy shrub, hedge or small tree, it is commonly found grown around Philadelphia and it self-seeds profusely, occasionally popping up through various cracks. So far East Oregon has been the best location for me finding mature specimens of the species as pavementplants, with two great examples. Small examples, too young to flower, are somewhat common but as a second-year flowering species, flowering examples are rarer. The rest of the mature examples that I have found have been scattered about in different neighborhoods. The first blooming specimen that I found growing out of pavement was on the northeast corner of East Oregon. I hadn't recorded where I found it but remembered that it was in that general area. Walking the area soon after looking at the picture, I recognized the spot in the Spring of 2026.
In 2026, I found another flowering specimen on the other side of East Oregon, in the fenced back-alleys typical of the west side of the neighborhood and neighboring Marconi East, with which that area has more in common. As Rose of Sharon puts out new flowers every day, I tried to visit it as much as was reasonably possible to get a variety of pictures for artistic use, particularly for patterning. A gallery of some of the best shots of it can be seen in this gallery.
2026 was a good year for finding mature Rose of Sharon pavementplants. In August, I found a small specimen toward the southeast end of Grays Ferry. I visited it twice but within a couple of weeks, it had been pulled.
I found a third specimen in Packer Park on September 21st of that year, growing in front of someone's obviously neglected garden shed. I was extra-surprised to find it because I have never found anything worth photographing in Packer Park before it. There are some more shots of it in this small gallery.
The second blooming sidewalk specimen I found was the above, spotted on 9th street, just below the Italian Market in Passyunk Square. I spotted it in 2017, soon after the first one in East Oregon. It was there for another year or two and then was gone. A couple of detail shots and a picture from a year or two later can be found here.
The following year, in September of 2018, I found another growing out of a sidewalk in the Fitler Square neighborhood. I recently found that the specimen is still there and I will try to get pictures of it flowering before making a gallery page for it.
