Common Name: seashore mallow
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Malvaceae
Native Range: Eastern United States
Zone: 6 to 9
Height: 3.00 to 4.00 feet
Spread: 2.00 to 3.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to September
Bloom Description: Pink
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Water Plant
Flower: Showy
Attracts: Butterflies
Culture
Easily grown in moderately fertile, moist to wet soils in full sun. Plants grow well in mucky soils, but also perform well in garden soils that are regularly irrigated. Propagate from seed. May not be reliably winter hardy throughout USDA Zone 5.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Kosteletzkya virginica, commonly called seashore mallow, is an erect, branching, herbaceous perennial or subshrub that typically grows to 3-4’ tall often with coarsely hairy foliage. It is noted for its small hibiscus-like pink flowers that bloom from late June to September. It is native to salt and brackish marshes plus bog and swamp peripherites along the coast from New York to Florida to Louisiana. Stalked, five-petaled, pink flowers (2.5” diameter) appear solitary in leaf axils or in terminal panicles. Numerous stamens form a distinctive tubular column around the pistil. Flowers open for one day. Fruit is a flattened, 5-segmented capsule with one seed per segment. Leaves (2-6” long) are gray-green and toothed. Lower leaves are maple-like with 3-5 lobes. Smaller upper leaves are triangular-hastate.
Genus name honors Vincenz Franz Kosteletzky (1801-1887) of Prague, writer on medical botany.
Specific epithet means of Virginia.
Problems
No significant insect or disease problems.
Uses
Native plant gardens, naturalized areas, around water bodies or low spots or in borders.