One of the most important plant families in the world are the mallows. Not only are mallow plants wonderful ornamental garden plants, but they are widely cultivated for food.
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Abutilon 'Bartley Schwarz'
Item #: 8007
Zones: 7b to 10b, guessing
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Abutilon 'Canary Bird'
Item #: 3848
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Abutilon 'Fool's Gold'
Item #: 8001
Zones: 8a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Abutilon megapotamicum
Item #: 4317
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 60" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Abutilon 'Orange Hot Lava'
Item #: 7302
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Abutilon 'Voodoo'
Item #: 6951
Zones: 8a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Alcea rugosa
Item #: 4469
Zones: 3a to 8a
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Russia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus aculeatus
Item #: 5905
Zones: 7a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus 'Airbrush Effect' PP 29,295
Item #: 13757
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus 'Berry Awesome' PP 27,936
Item #: 11950
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus 'Cherry Choco Latte' PPAF
Item #: 13758
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus coccineus
Item #: 1215
Zones: 6a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus 'Fantasia' PP 11,853
Item #: 3899
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus 'Holy Grail' PPAF
Item #: 13759
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 54" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus 'Midnight Marvel' PP 24,079
Item #: 1781
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 60" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus mutabilis 'Flora Plena'
Item #: 1126
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 120" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus 'Pink Teacups'
Item #: 13011
Zones: 6a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus 'Starry Starry Night' PP 27,901
Item #: 11952
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Hibiscus 'Summer Carnival' PPAF
Item #: 13724
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 42" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Malvaviscus drummondii
Item #: 272
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 60" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
Malvaviscus drummondii 'Big Momma'
Item #: 6902
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?
More Information About Mallows
Mallow Plants for the temperate garden including Abutilon, Hibiscus and Callirhoe.
One of the most important plant families in the world are the mallows. Not only are mallows wonderful ornamental garden plants, they are also widely cultivated for food (edible mallows include okra, marshmallows, chocolate), drink (herbal tea, cola) and for fiber (cotton, kenaf, jute). Although most mallows are tropical, it is a large family (over 1000 species) so there are still many mallows that are perennial in temperate gardens. Don't let your garden go fallow. Plant a mallow! Just avoid the weedy common mallow, Malva neglecta.
What makes a mallow, a mallow? Mallow plants are defined to include all members of the plant family Malvaceae which are distinguished from other plants by having a unique floral anatomy. Mallow plant stamens (the male sex parts) are fused together into a tube that surrounds the pistil (female sex part) and the whole structure looks like a funny bottle brush. In addition, mallows produce lots of gooey mucilage in the leaves, stems, roots and immature seed pods...which is what okra is. This syrupy, gelatinous goo is valuable in cooking as it thickens soups and sauces, and can be whipped to make marshmallows.
Mallow flowers range in size from small (shallow mallow) 3/4" wide Malvaviscus blooms up to the gigantic, dinner-plate sized flowers of hardy Hibiscus (a mallow to hallow). Mallow flowers are typically red, pink, mauve or purple but occasionally can be found in white (a more mellow mallow) and pale shades of yellow (a sallow mallow), or sometimes blue (an indigo mallow).
There are many ornamental mallow plants (say that five times, fast) that look great in the temperate garden. Here in our Raleigh, NC garden we grow perennial Abutilon, Alcea, Callirhoe, Gossypium, Hibiscus, Iliamna, Kosteletzkya, Malva, Lavatera, Malvaviscus, Napaea, and Pavonia. When you are ready to buy mallow plants for your garden, check out our online list of mallow plants for sale.
Check out our article on how to grow Hibiscus.
Trivia - Mallow is also the name of a city in Ireland, the administrative head of county Cork. There are cities in Virginia and Iran also named Mallow. Go figure! The term 'mallow' is derived from middle english 'malue' and basically means 'the color mauve' which is the color of the eponymous mallow, the genus Malva.