Need a tall sturdy, summer-blooming shrub, in your garden? Try Malva.
Malva fastigiata or mallow belongs in western gardens. It thrives in the intense summer sun for it is drought tolerant. Wildlife and diseases ignore malva and it grows well in alkaline soils. Malva grows from a thick, strong taproot filled on the insides with thick mucilage that can be used to make marshmallow or can be boiled and whipped to froth as a substitute for egg whites. All parts–leaves, flowers, roots or seeds–are edible. The leaves and flowers have a mild pleasant flavor that can be added to salads or cooked as greens. Malva, like most wild vegetables, is at its most nutritious and tastiest in early spring. The huge quantity of black seeds that Malva produces offers a nutty, tasty treat when they are dried. They can also be used as a thickening agent for soups while still green.
Most self-seeding perennials like malva lend themselves to the generous, overflowing qualities of the cottage garden. Just add a variety of flowers, a picket fence, and an old-fashioned rocking chair and your cottage garden is complete. Malva is so free flowering and low-key that it mixes well with every other summer perennial.
Malva stays small it’s first year and will not bloom until seedlings have been vernalized, meaning a winter cold treatment. The next year, the plant will fill out and with maturity will be the easiest perennial in the garden. It doesn’t require fertilizer and stays shorter and stronger when grown in western soils but is tall enough for a hedge, the back of the garden, or to hide utility boxes.
Malva is one of the easiest, hardiest, and most versatile of summer-blooming flowers, so add in this superb perennial and enjoy its soft pink color accents in your garden.
