Malva sylvestris
Wild Flower.
Another malva beauty! It's a real challenge for me to decide between her and her 'sisters', the "Hollyhock Mallow", the "Mauritanian Mallow" and the "Mallow White Musk".
This one has a particularly long flowering period. Her pink flowers with darker veins are edible and often used for tea. They'll give your cup of tea an exquisite colour.
They are very popular with bees, bumblebees and butterflies, self-seed beautifully and are great in pots.
Height: 40cm to 100cm (16" to 40")
Hardiness: Biennial to perennial (short-lived shrub)
Where: Full sun to partial shade
When: March to April inside, end of March to July outside.
Spacing: 50cm (20")
Harvesting/Flowering: May to September
A paradise for insects
By the way: these seeds are packaged in grass paper
Grass paper is an environmentally-friendly and sustainable form of packaging. It is made from grass, a rapidly regenerating raw material, which can be processed without using chemicals, which means significantly less water and energy are required to produce it.
Photos: Janina Laszlo
