The mallow (or poplar rose) is not only a visual enrichment for any perennial bed, but also a particularly long-lasting cut flower. Since the plants can provide colorful blooms for years in one location, there is some confusion among many amateur gardeners about the lifespan of this plant.
The mallow is not hardy
The mallow originates from the Mediterranean region and is not hardy. Nevertheless, the recurring bloom in one location without further care leads some gardeners to suspect that this pretty flower overwinters in the ground and therefore often grows up again in the same location. In reality, however, mallows produce a large number of seeds after flowering, which eventually fall to the ground and then sprout new plants the next year. This actually makes it seem as if the annual mallow is a perennial.
mallow reliably self-sows
If you’re happy to let your mallow grow anew in the garden every year, you don’t really need to do anything else. As long as the chosen location is not taken up by other vigorous growing plants, mallow will usually self-seed very reliably. However, it can also happen that mallow gradually spreads more and more in a garden by spreading with the wind and various animals. However, this spreading is very unproblematic compared to some other plants, because the young plants of the mallow in unsuitable locations can be detected and removed very easily.
Sowing the mallow in a controlled manner
Should you wish to keep a firm grip on the scepter of your garden design yourself, you can also control the reproduction and spread of the mallow yourself. To do this, you only need to:
carefully pick off the seed pods in time before they ripen
store the seeds in a dry and dark place
sow the mallow in the desired place from April to the beginning of June.
Be sure to harvest the mallow seed pods only in dry weather, otherwise the seeds can easily mold during storage.
Tips
mallows, unfortunately, are relatively often attacked by diseases such as mallow rust or soil fungi. The best measure in such a case is to simply change the location for mallow cultivation.