My cold is much better, thank you. Or—in the interest of
clarity—I should say “My cold is much diminished, thank you. I feel better.”
Today Tim and I gave a talk to the Winding River Garden
Club entitled “Falling for Bulbs.” As usual, we had a grand time. The WRGC
always pulls a great crowd. Plus they coaxed me out of the house for the first
time and into the first non-rainy day since we got home from Chicago.
Clear as mud,
right? I mean, today I left the house for the first time in a week; and, today
was the first dry day in a week. Better?
Because of
the effort required to overcome the cumulative force of 144 hours of inertia on
a fundamentally lazy personality, and because I spent most of Monday and all of
Tuesday pulling together a script and over a hundred pictures for our
Power-Point presentation, I’m temporarily written out. So today’s post is a
Field Note I penned for my friend Sally a few weeks ago. Under the
circumstances, it’s the best I can do.
KOSTELETZKYA VIRGINICA
(kos-stee-LETS-kye-uh ver-GIN-ih-kah)
The main problem facing plant collectors with small
gardens is lack of space for rambunctious perennials. In my own little yard,
muscular Joe Pye weeds (Eupatorium
maculatum, E. purpureum) had to go after a few seasons, as did their
companion, Helianthus angustifolius. Canna
lily hybrids merrily multiplied, eating up one whole bed before they got the
axe (literally). Mountain blue-star (Amsonia
tabernaemontana) threatened a beloved Baptisia
minor: I moved the Amsonia five
years ago, and it’s been in a puny sulk ever since.
One herbaceous big boy weathered this parade of comings
and goings, secure in the knowledge I could never bear to banish it. Native to
salt marshes from southern New York to Florida and as far west as Texas, Kosteletzkya virginica goes by several
common names: Virginia mallow, swamp mallow, seashore mallow, marsh mallow, fen
rose. A member of the Malvaceae (mallow) clan, its clear pink blooms resemble two-inch-wide
hibiscus flowers, complete with prominent yellow stamens topped by dainty pink
pistil crowns. The four-to-five-foot high subshrub has large, mid-green,
spear-shaped leaves and a three-to-four-foot spread. A stately presence in the
garden, Kosteletzkya’s coarse texture offers the eye a place to rest amid the
fussy foliage of lesser perennials.
 |
My herbaceous seashore mallow,
full-size and blooming big in August |
My specimen came in a two-inch pot from Woodlanders
Nursery out of Aiken, SC, back in the late 1990s, when they still offered a
hard-copy catalog. It’s been a fixture in our garden ever since, surviving in situ numerous plant shufflings, bed
reconfigurations, and purges. It endures with good grace an occasional
root-whacking to keep it in bounds. Kosteletzkya
doesn’t require cosseting: once established, it grows without much in the
way of supplemental water or food. It tolerates wet feet (swamp mallow, marsh mallow,
fen rose) and salt air (seashore mallow), but also does fine in
my sandy soil amended with compost every other year or so. Although late to
emerge in spring, once it’s up, it attains full size by July. That’s when the
flowers start appearing, becoming prolific as nighttime temperatures begin to
moderate in late August. Blooming continues into November most years here in
southeastern North Carolina.
 |
| Closer, oh Kosteletzkya, to thee |
Maintenance is a dream: just cut down—or break off—the
hollow woody stalks in late winter. Pest problems are negligible, and I’ve
never seen foliage or flowers marred by disease.
Kosteletzkya increases by suckering, which
suggests one method of propagation. In my yard, the seed also germinates
readily enough in pots of soil inadvertently left around: I imagine a
purposeful sowing by someone who actually knows what he’s doing would work as
well.
The only
problem with Kosteletzkya virginica is
its scarcity in the trade. I know from experience it does as well in pot—even
accidentally—as it does in the ground. Not picky about soils, this easy-to-get-along-with
plant is easy to propagate, salt tolerant, low maintenance, and virtually
pest-free. With a native range encompassing nearly the entire East and Gulf
Coasts, its selling points include a long bloom season, a self-cleaning nature
and a pleasing habit. Is there something nurserymen know about Kosteletzkya that I don’t?
BOTANICAL NAME: Kosteletzkya
virginica
COMMON NAMES: Virginia mallow, swamp mallow, seashore
mallow, marsh mallow, fen rose
HARDINESS:
USDA Zones 6-11
MATURE HEIGHT: 5-6’
MATURE SPREAD: 3-4’
CLASSIFICATION: Herbaceous subshrub
LANDSCAPE USE: Specimen, perennial gardens, mixed
shrubberies
ORNAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS: Prolific 2” clear pink, hibiscus-like
flowers July to November; pleasing coarse-textured habit; ease of culture and
maintenance
*****
Okay, that’s
it for me. Thanks for understanding. And thanks for dropping by.
Kathy
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