The cup 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 in one location can provide colorful flowers for years, many hobby gardeners are somewhat unclear about the lifespan of this plant.
Are cup mallows perennial plants?
Cup mallows are not perennial, but rather annual plants that self-sow after flowering. This self-sowing allows them to reappear every year, giving the impression of being perennial.
The cup mallow is not hardy
The cup mallow originally comes from the Mediterranean region and is not hardy. Nevertheless, the recurring flowering in one location without further care leads some gardeners to suspect that this beautifully blooming flower overwinters in the ground and therefore often grows up again in the same location. In reality, after flowering, cup mallows produce a large number of seeds, which eventually fall to the ground and then sprout new plants the next year. This actually makes it seem as if the annual cup mallow is a perennial.
Mallows reliably sow themselves
If you would like to grow your cup mallows in the garden every year, you don't actually need to do anything else. As long as the chosen location is not occupied by other strong-growing plants, the cup mallow usually self-sows very reliably. However, it can also happen that cup mallows gradually spread more and more in a garden by spreading with the wind and various animals. However, this spread is very unproblematic compared to some other plants, as the young plants of the cup mallow can be identified and removed very easily in unsuitable locations.
Sowing the cup mallow in a controlled manner
If you want to keep the scepter of your garden design firmly in your hand, you can also control the reproduction and spread of cup mallow yourself. All you have to do is:
- pick the seed capsules carefully in time before they ripen
- store the seeds in a dry and dark place
- sow the cup mallow at the desired location from April to the beginning of June
Make sure to only harvest the cup mallow seed pods in dry weather, otherwise the seeds can easily become moldy during storage.
Tip
Cup mallows are unfortunately 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 growing cup mallow.
