General Culture:

Easily grown in dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun. Grows well from seed and may self-seed in the garden in optimum growing conditions. Long tap root gives plant good drought tolerance but makes transplanting of established plants difficult.

Noteworthy Characteristics:

Purple poppy mallow is a mat-forming, Missouri native perennial which most frequently occurs in dryish, rocky soils in prairies, fields and along roadsides scattered in several counties mostly northeast of the Missouri River. Plants typically form a low foliage mound from 6-9" tall on procumbent stems which spread along the ground to 3' wide. Solitary, upward facing, cup-shaped, five-petaled, poppy-like, magenta flowers (to 2.5" wide) continuously appear on thin stems above the foliage from mid-spring to fall. Stamens form a prominent central column typical of mallow family members, but with distinctive style branches. Leaves are palmately divided into 5-7 finger-like lobes. The closely-related Missouri native fringed poppy mallow (Callirhoe digitata - X910) is, by contrast, a spindly, erect plant which typically grows 2-3' tall.