Beginner Gardening: Is this a weed or a Rose of Sharon?, 1 by catnaps

catnaps wrote:
People keep telling me this is a weed, but my friend gave me rose of sharon seedlings that I thought had died and now I have all this little sprouts everywhere. These pictures are the larger ones. I thought they could be rose of sharon, but the trunks are red and they are not flowering! I am wondering if they are diseased rose sharons? Should I distroy them? I want to use the space for a garden and they either need to move or get distroyed.