Virginia ecotype
- Duration: Perennial
- Habit: Upright, clumping, often shrubby
- Size: 3 to 7 feet tall, 2 to 4 feet wide
- Flowering Time: July, August, September
- Bloom Color: White, pink, rose, or bicolor with dark red or maroon centers
- Habitat: Freshwater marshes, swamps, streambanks, wet meadows, and ditches
- Moisture: Moist to wet; tolerates occasional standing water
- Light: Full sun to part sun
- Soils: Loamy, clay, or silty; prefers rich, organic soils but tolerant of heavier clays
- Uses: Rain gardens, wetland restoration, pond edges, pollinator gardens, showy borders
Hibiscus moscheutos (Swamp rose mallow):
Hibiscus moscheutos, known as the swamp rose mallow or crimson-eye rose mallow, is a showstopper of a native perennial with tropical-looking blooms that can reach 6 to 10 inches across.
Its enormous, nectar-laden flowers draw in hummingbirds, butterflies, and especially bees, including the specialized rose mallow bee, which hosts on swamp mallows almost exclusively. It also provides cover for amphibians and wetland wildlife when planted in masses near water.
The flowers, typically ranging in shades of white to pink with dramatic crimson eyes, last only a day, but swamp mallow produces them in succession over several weeks from mid-summer to early fall.
Swamp mallow thrives in sunny, moisture-rich conditions, and can tolerate standing water. It’s cold-hardy and tolerant of both heat and humidity, making it well-suited for challenging wet areas. This species needs at least average moisture, and is not drought tolerant in soils that dry out completely.
It has sturdy stems and broad, fuzzy leaves that die back in the winter to a woody root crown, which tend to form large clumps over time.