I've had altheas for years (at my home northwest of Houston) and never had a problem with "invasiveness". I've been surprised to read that some people have problems. They do reseed a bit but not bad at all and they're easy to pull out. I would consider crepe myrtles to be infinitely more irritating and worse as far as reseeding. I pull them up absolutely everywhere as I have four or five large crepes around my house. My beautiful red maple trees also reseed very aggressively (as do my elms).

Completely agree w/ texaslyn19

We had three unnamed varieties that bloomed very nicely in sun and shade for almost 20 years. We never had any volunteers on the mostly shaded blackland prairie clay, but know that can vary a lot by soil and site.

Cotton root rot gets them pretty badly, so that would be a challenge if it's in your soil. Actually the roots seem to be susceptible to rot in general, but think non-CRR rot is more of a longevity factor. Ours were still blooming well, but easily removed at about 20 years due to rot in roots and trunk.... no chance they would have made the 50+ year potential mentioned earlier in our shaded heavy clay site.

Think they would be a wonderful alternative to a small crape myrtle in a well draining location.

Good grief....cotton root rot must be what ails a newly planted althea of mine! I've been at a loss to figure out what the matter has been and why it looks so sickly.....how have I not been aware of cotton root rot??? I haven't had any of the others be affected by it.

I live in KY, not Texas. When we bought this house 33 years ago, there was a stand of old Althea (I'm sure it was a common, garden variety) between us and a neighbor. We left it alone and pruned when necessary. It was pretty for a few weeks each year. When the neighbor put up a fence, we cut it down and dug up the roots. That was at least 25 years ago. I'm still digging up volunteers which I don't want! Perhaps the named, fancy varieties don't do this, but unless you're told this, don't plant them unless you're sure you really want them there forever!

Thanks for that information, Bostedo.

I have no personal experience with cotton root rot, but HERE is an article about it.

Excerpt:

"Disease Symptoms – Symptoms are most likely to occur
from June through September when soil temperatures reach 28 °C (82 °F).
The first symptoms are slight yellowing or bronzing of the leaves. The
upper-most leaves wilt within 24 to 48 hours after bronzing, followed by
wilting of the lower leaves within 72 hours. Permanent wilt occurs by
the third day, followed by death. The leaves remain firmly attached to
the plant. Affected plants die suddenly, often after excellent growth.
Trees and shrubs may die more slowly."

Sometimes old plants die, or new ones never catch on and we can't figure out exactly the reason in either case, so we just make a good guess with whatever information we can gather.

It's unfortunate so little can currently be done to deal with CRR where present in alkaline soils other than adapting to live with it. Althea just happens to be among the ornamentals most susceptible to it. Here's Bulletin L-2056 mentioned in Roselee's article that has links to the tables of CRR resistive plants at the bottom.

The resistant list is good to have so if you suspect CRR in an area a resistant plant can be placed there.

Went shopping this morning and bought an Althea "Minerva". It's about 3 ft tall, thickly branched, has dense foliage, and absolutely covered in buds. $19.95

For San Antonio people: Rainbow Gardens on Thousand Oaks has a bigger selection of everything! They had about 10 or 12 varieties of Altheas. "Blue chiffon" is really blue. I was tempted and am still thinking about it. All were beautiful!!! I wanted one of each.

Also found a Golden wonder senna which I've grown before and noticed that the sulfur butterflies prefer it to use as a larva host plant over some others I have.

Saw Joey too. He's working there on his days off from the San Antonio Botanical Gardens and getting ready for his wedding in October ... :-)

At the Quitman Arboretum we have a double purple that doesn't set seed, but my favorite is 'Diana', with big pure white single flowers that open almost flat. I got one for home but it's struggling due to (1) gopher damage and (2) having the top of a 45' pine tree dropped right on it. Ouch!!! It seems to be recovering ...

Golden wonder senna, I've never met a senna I didn't like but it doesn't work the other way around. I cannot grow the common candlestick cassia to save my life. Will have to see if golden wonder is sold locally.

Bossy, my plant's tag said it is grown by Conroe Greenhouses, which is a wholesale supplier located in Texas. On their website they name a salesman for Houston and its surrounds so I'll bet it is available in your area.

Lin, Dianais gorgeous. I'm glad to hear yours is recovering ... :-)

My FIL Althea is all white like Diana but it doubt it IS Diana. I think mine will have a smaller all white flower. Just sent Conroe greenhouses an email. R, you are a wealth of info

You probably got enough answers to make your decision, but I'll chime in anyway. We have two on the south side of our house in very full sun here in Dallas. I don't know the variety. One year some bugs ate all the blooms, but we sprayed and they never came back. They've never tried to reproduce. We don't trim the at all, just let them grow. I also don't care for the shape of them and how they look in winter. DH and I keep saying we're going to replace them, but we never do. They're beautiful in summer though.

Just wanted to thank you, Ragna, for this thread. It got me going in a different direction and one I feel I will be more comfortable with. I bought 3 Minerva altheas yesterday and am so pleased with them. They are quite large and only $19.99. I won't have help until Tuesday to get them planted so have something to look forward to. I can hardly wait to get started on that large, large bed and get it established enough to just sit back and enjoy.

Carrie, that's going to be beautiful! Can't wait to see pictures of them when they bloom.

I just went outside and noticed that the first buds on my Althea Minerva are opening. The flowers are a beautiful lavender with a slight pinkish tone. The photos of it online look rose pink as they did from my camera also. I have changed the hue to reflect (I hope) the more true color. It looks right on my computer anyway ...

That is lovely, and either color would be okay with me. I keep reading that they bloom a lot, and that is what I was hoping for. My helper and I are getting that bed completely prepared (as much as can be with still pulling up wisteria sprouts) today, and will get mine inground later this afternoon. It appears that we have gotten all the big roots from the wisteria, so I will just have to be vigilant in keeping the sprouts pulled out. I killed it out of another bed by doing this.

First bloom this year on my Double Purple.

How lovely, Ruth. Well, mine are in the ground and fill in that space so well. However, think I may need two more to complete what I was aiming for. I may just get one that will complement Minerva. Cannot wait for mine to bloom !!!

This is a seedling I got from FIL garden. First bloom.

About 3"

Ruth, the form of your Althea flower looks very much like the one in this thread. See the second photo down.

Bossy, that's one big flower. I love white. And the lavender one too.

Hmmmm. I went to the MOBOT site and it says Dianas's flowers are 3", so I may have Diana after all.

Yes it does, roselee. Color looks pretty different thou. That one looks to be grayish lilac with a white center. Love the color.

Mine is more of a lavender with wine center. Got some better pictures of the ones I can reach. They are around 10 to 12 feet tall.

Very ruffled!

As the photos of more developed examples shown here demonstrate this plant is definitely better maintained (once established) as an annually hard pruned shrub in the manner of a fuchsia being grown in a cold climate.

Yes, the globe form is beautiful, stately, and perhaps blooms more. I guess the amount of pruning would pertain to the placement of the shrub and personal preference. Will keep it mind.

Actually I like the spreading tree form in several of the photos above, especially the one at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens.

Lin, with those very large, wide, pure white petals I can see where A. Diana would be a favorite!

Here2learn, I happened to come across the photo I took of the large tree form of Althea at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. I wish I'd backed off a little like you did when taking the picture, but what a plant!

This was taken near the end of May in 2015 ...

Do you know the name of that althea, Ragna???

Carrie, I wish I knew the name of this particular cultivar. I'm wondering if "Phoenix" Joey (who works at SABG) can find out for us, but since it's been there so long that information might have been lost. A message was sent asking him.

Thanks, Ragna, I am in need of two more and am having difficulty finding the one I want. This is beautiful and would blend nicely in the space I have to offer.

I'm in Amarillo at the moment but when I get back on Tuesday I'll try to find out for y'all

Thanks, Joey !!!!

Rose of Sharon are related to hibiscuses, so if you don't exactly like the shape of the Rose of Sharon bush/tree, you can get similar-looking flowers from growing hibiscus plants.

I'm in North Texas area and the ones I have, hardly make any seedlings at all. That may be related to my soil or location of the mother plant. So I've been able to enjoy the blooms from the original trees without dealing with any seedlings or invasiveness. However, if I take the seeds and plant them into some good potting mix, they do germinate and grow, so the seeds are viable. Maybe I'll count that as being lucky to not have so many seedlings all around.

From my experience, and personal enjoyment of their flowers, I would recommend more people to grow them also.

Thank you, Joey !

Y'all are welcome!

I have been unable to find an althea by the name of Blue River. Anyone else do any research on it???

I also looked for it and found only 'Blue river II' which is white.

I found a number of Blue River hibiscus however.......................did you??

I saw lots of pretty blues on line, at Rainbow Gardens, and pictured above, but no "Blue river". I take references to 'blue' colors in garden plants with a grain of salt, but Blue satin and blue chiffon seen at Rainbow gardens were actually quite blue in color.

I may just keep trying to find the Aphrodite and quit looking for the one that is so pretty in the pic you posted. Need two more to complete the bed.

Blue River II is the white hardy, absolutely spectacular. I don't know why mine disappeared, could have been drought of 2011. My absolute fave hardy.

Ruthz, I have to admit to being very partial to Rose of Sharon. They take full sun here in SW Oklahoma. Right now there is only the one where I am living... very tolerant of dry conditions with just a bit of mulch. Blooms all season long... just started to bloom here in zone 7b. I grew it from a cutting, then kept it in a pot as I trained it to a standard. Did not allow a side branch until about 30" tall. I believe it took a full two years. Once planted out, it was kept staked for another 3 - 4 years to keep the trunk straight. No longer tries to make suckers around the base... just a very beautiful ball of double purple with the red center like yours. The only name it had was "double red"... I didn't get what I was expecting, but it is a blooming machine. Wish I knew how to post pictures, but I don't.

In skimming down this post I am admiring all the beautiful photos you all have posted of your Altheas and am again inspired. But I don't know what to think about my Minerva.

It hasn't grown one bit or put on one new leaf, but has lost a lot of them! It wilts so much in the afternoon sun that I've had to put up an umbrella to shade it. It looks very scraggly, but the crazy thing has never stopped blooming and is still forming lots of flower buds ...

It's planted in a three foot wide planter with good soil, lots of mulch, and an open bottom. If not watered every day it wilts, even with the umbrella ...

My dilemma is whether to leave it where it is and trust that it will grow enough in the spring to support the constant blooming through the summer, or to move it -- somewhere -- but where? What does it want?

Any ideas?

Well, I'm thinking that that the new Althea cultivars are programmed to bloom all summer, which is good and it has, in lieu of growing roots or foliage. Like a lot of shrubs it would have been better to have been planted in the fall to grow roots in early winter and spring so I've decided to leave it where it is -- for now.

I grow about 40 althea plants. My old single lavender has only seeded two plants in 30 years. My mother grew this in wetter soil and it reseeded a lot. Also, my climate is hotter and I don't have much of a winter. The altheas in the midwest states are beautiful. They seem to thrive on the colder winters. My plants are not as bushy, but the blooms are gorgeous. They are blooming now, when the temperatures and humidity have shut down other plants.

The newer cultivars are sterile, so reseeding will be not a problem. They also are not as sturdy in my yard. The spectacular Blueberry Smoothie died this spring. Would love to have another but can't spend $35 plus shipping now! How can it be so expensive?

Wow -- forty Althea plants! How wonderful! We'd love to see any pictures you might have.

Yes, $35 does seem a bit steep in price, especially when you have to play shipping which is sometimes almost as much as the plant. Nice size Blueberry Smoothie Althea plants were $20 in a local nursery this spring. I looked long and hard at it and have recently contemplated about going back to see if they still had it.

Altheas seem to root pretty easily. A cutting I got from a friend this spring is over a foot tall now and has four flower buds. They are certainly eager to bloom!

Well, after all the wonderful advice, seeing all the photos, etc. the Althea purchased this spring was doing very poorly. No new leaves, and what was there were shrunken and shriveling. It looks much worse now than in the photo above. So I dug it up, cut it back, and planted it in a pretty five gal. pot in good soil to recover.

What I found when digging it out were roots from a near by Esperanza. They had invaded the planter and were very likely stealing nutrients and water. Also three big rhinoceros beetle grubs fell away from the root ball. The grubs feed on rotting vegetable matter, not roots, but if roots are close by they could chomp through them. They were carried to the compost pile where they belong.

I'd like to have something big and dramatic in that spot. Any suggestions? Maybe one of Eric's big mean bromeliad types. For now the Torch bouganvilleas are there. Maybe I will leave them.

The Esperanza will be moved this winter. It's not blooming that much anyway.

Gardening is truly an ongoing adventure of trial and error -- as is life itself ... :-)