Sphaeralcea Species, Copper Mallow, Prairie Mallow, Scarlet Globemallow

This species grows all over Utah VERY abundantly, as well as a few other Globemallow species. Sphaeralcea coccinea as well as its counter...Read Moreparts stay completely evergreen year round here, and have been known to bloom into December in the valleys/lower elevations. I absolutely adore seeing its vibrant orange flowers contrasted with its blue green foliage around the desert near my house! Any type of globe mallow is an excellent choice for the desert southwest and look amazing in rock gardens with palms, agaves, yuccas, and other broadleaf evergreens!

A beautiful little apricot colored wildflower which looks like a miniature Hollyhock caught my attention when I first moved to New Mexico...Read More. It alone was the only plant in the graveled parking stripe along the entire block. Not even weeds grew in that gravel! It was simply an entrancing beauty. I later learned it is Globemallow, the same family as the Hollyhock, specifically Sphaeralcea, or as a friend from the mid-west referred to it "Cowboy's Delight". Years ago I found one along the side of the road and dug it up to plant in my backyard. It has thrived and I am happy to say it now springs up everywhere around the yard each year because it self-seeds.

Sphaeralcea or Cowboy's Delight is native here in the dry sand hills of Rio Rancho NM altitude 5700 ft. I have never known it to become ...Read Moreanything near a pest although single plants tend to pop up here and there. Either there are two varieties, one about 6" tall blooming in early April and the other about 18" tall blooming in late May, or else the May one is second bloom on the earlier one. I haven't figured it out.

My flagstone terrace is planted mainly with thymes but I have some little rock garden plants there for their flowers. The orange Sphaeralcea looks beautiful blooming with white Achillea serbica, blue Veronica pectinata, and (both pink) Armeria maritima and Gypsophila 'Filou Rose'.

I have these growing wild on our property, and they are pretty little plants. They are going into my experimental wildflower bed I have ...Read Morejust started, with native SW Ks. plants. They have unbelievably long roots, and apparently in addition to self-sowing from seed, they put up plants from the long runners of the roots - just some of what I dug tonight were well over 3 feet long, with small plants branching up periodically from the running root. These would therefore need to go into a bed or area where you don't mind them spreading like crazy, both from seed and runners.

Forage Value: Deer and pronghorn antelope graze it more frequently than do livestock.
Uses: The Navajo used the roots during periods of food shortage. Some Plains Indian tribes applied chewed parts of the plant to sores.
Comments: Scarlet globe mallow is highly drought resistant.