Hibiscus in a gully

 I couldn’t imagine what I was seeing: a plant blooming in an impossible place.

The shrub was clinging to the steep bank of a gully between two houses. The shrub’s roots are holding some soil in the ravine, a small tributary of Barbeshela Creek.

The blooms are unmistakable: it’s a hibiscus shrub, Hibiscus syriacus. 

Some bushes once marked the boundary of the eroding property. Seeds slipped into the gully, and now a plant is growing in a place that I can’t fathom any other shrub growing.

I understand the concept of invasive species. But my mind just won’t do the gymnastics.

Is this shrub really taking the place of a native plant? Could any other plant — native or otherwise —really grow there?