06/11/2026
What's blooming in the library's pollinator garden?
Swamp rose mallow or crimson-eyed rose mallow.
"Rose Mallow is a tall, shrub-like, woody-based herbaceous perennial in the Malvaceae or mallow family. It has huge hollyhock-like flowers in shades of white, pink, red, or burgundy that blooms from midsummer to early fall. The flowers measure up to 8 inches in diameter and have spreading petals with a contrasting central eye of red or burgundy and protruding staminal column that is creamy white to pale yellow. The leaves are alternate, ovate to lanceolate, green to greenish-gray on the upper surface, and the undersides are white and hairy. The plant grows upright from to 2 to 6 feet tall and 2 to 5 feet wide and has multiple sturdy stems.
Rose Mallow is native to wetlands and creek edges in the southeastern United States and is found in all areas of North Carolina." (From NCSU state extension. Link in comments.)
Bonus native hibiscus (or eastern digger) bee taking a little nap.
