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For Your Garden - June 2017
Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.
swamp rose mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos)
Swamp rose mallow grows in wet soil in a few scattered locations in eastern and southern Illinois. It is found in open swamps and marshes and around ponds, lakes and rivers where there is full to partial sunshine during the day, wet soil and plenty of soil nutrients. The plants reach three to seven feet in height. Flowers are produced from July through September. These large flowers are pink or white and resemble in appearance those of the tropical Hibiscus plants sold in garden centers and to which they are related. The fruits are produced in a capsule, and the plant spreads by seeds. This plant is pollinated by insects and attracts many pollinator species.
Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.
Illinois Range
Native Plant Information
For more information about Illinois native plants, visit our Native Habitat Descriptions, Requirements, and Plant Lists page. The following publications are available from the IDNR on our publications page.
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Illinois Status: common, native
