The other day I posted a photo about a plant but couldn't remember the name. Well here it is, Callirhoe involucrata. Now please don't ask me to pronounce this out loud, I can usually come up with a decent pronunciation but this one has me totally stumped.
I've had Callirhoe in the garden 4 or 5 years now. The same two plants, never more, never less. I bought them in a small pot and over the years I've learned little about them.
Callirhoe doesn't stand up on it's own, it needs surrounding plant material to clambor along or a rock wall to cascade down.
It has no pests that I've seen except for rabbits which occasionally find it absolutely delicious.
The flowers only open when the sun is up, they close up in early evening but the strong magenta color still makes the closed buds beautiful.
Today I went to Mobot's site to learn more about this plant. It is part of the Malva family and can grow as far south as Texas (Pauline, are you taking note?). Also, it likes dry to medium soil so I'm guessing it would also do well for Gail in her stony Tennessee soil.
This plant is native to America, I wonder if any of you folks overseas seas have it in your gardens?
If any of you have tips on how to propigate this plant, leave a message. I remember hearing it seeds around but I don't have any seedlings here that I know of.