Rose Of Sharon is certainly not a rose, but they have been a fascination of mine for years. They belong to the genus hibiscus, in the plant family Malvaceae. So I say the flower is mallow like, like hibiscus, hollyhock.
I didn't actually understand just how variable they were till I raised them from seed. You'd think that you would get a white flower from seed from a white flowered tree/shrub, but those seeds will produce a rainbow of colors. You'll never get a doubled flowered bloom from a single flowered plant.
The thing is that it takes 3 to 4 years to bloom, you can grow them as a tree or a bush. I like them as a tree, small in size 10-15 ft. It's easy, just don't let them sucker. Keep lower limbs from growing on the trunk. No matter how you grow them, the secret is pruning. Want just a few flowers on a unruly shrub? Don't prune it. People complain about fruit trees, wisteria, and such, but won't take the effort to prune. Get in the habit and the knack will come to you.
The pictures here are just from around the neighborhood, if I was to start pruning everybodies shrubs, they'd probably get mad. So the ugly shrub whose name has biblical connotations, remains common place and relatively unnoticed.
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