Plant Of The Month: July 2000, Lavatera

How To Grow
Full sun and average, well-drained soil are ideal. Too-rich soil yields abundant foliage but few flowers. Sow seeds outdoors where the plants are to grow in early spring, a few weeks before the last spring frost date when the soil is still cool. Or sow indoors in individual pots 6 to 8 weeks before last frost at 70 degrees F. Transplant with care. Taller types may require pea stakes or other support. Use lavateras in mixed plantings. Dwarf cultivars can be grown in containers. All make excellent cut flowers.

L. trimestris
l. tri-MES-tris. Lavatera, Tree Mallow.
A 2- to 4-foot well-branched annual. Bears funnel-shaped, 3- to 4-inch-wide flowers singly in leaf axils. Flowers come in white and pale to reddish pink. 'Mont Blanc' and 'Mont Rose' are compact 2-foot-tall cultivars. 'Silver Cup' bears rose-pink flowers on 3-foot plants. Cool-weather annual.

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More Lavateras to Try
In addition to the cultivars listed above, consider trying 'Loveliness’, a 3- to 4-foot-tall cultivar with rich, rose-pink flowers. 'Ruby Regis', which bears reddish pink flowers on 2-foot-tall plants is also available. 'Pink Beauty' bears pale pink blooms on 2-foot-tall plants.

More on Seed-Sowing
Lavateras can be tricky to raise from seeds, but are well worth the effort. (Once you've grown them, you won't want to do without them.) By far the best method for raising them is sowing seeds directly in the garden where the plants will grow. Mark the locations of the seed beds, so you can remember where to water until seedlings appear. If you must start plants indoors, use sterile mix (damping off is a problem), and sow in individual pots. I've had luck with sowing into paper pots, which are made of newspaper wrapped around a form made specifically for this purpose. Still the seedlings aren't particularly vigorous and some fail at transplant time. This year, my plants in paper pots did much better once I moved them to a protected, east facing porch, where they received good air circulation and were exposed to cool nighttime temperatures.

For the Plant Of The Month index click here.

Ellis is also the author of "Taylor's Guide to Growing North America's Favorite Plants: A detailed, how-to-grow guide to selecting, planting, and caring for the best classic plants." (Houghton Mifflin, 1998, softcover). Country Living magazine called this comprehensive reference "The 'must-have' gardening book of the year."