Swamp Rose Mallow

Swamp rose mallow produces flowers up to eight inches across, in white or pink with a crimson eye, on a hardy native perennial that looks like it belongs in the tropics. Hibiscus moscheutos grows 2 to 7 feet tall and 2 to 4 feet wide in full sun to part sun, hardy from Zone 4 through Zone 8. Bloom comes in midsummer and runs into fall. Each flower lasts a day, but a mature plant opens new ones continuously for weeks. Hummingbirds and butterflies come to them, and it is the host plant for the specialist rose mallow bee, which visits nothing else. It emerges very late in spring, weeks after most perennials, so mark the spot or you will assume it died and dig into it. This grows wild in coastal marshes, wet meadows, and along tidal shores, which is why it takes wet ground, standing water, and high salt better than almost any perennial sold. It struggles in a dry bed. Deer leave it alone.