Mountain Hollyhock in the Landscape

Diane Jones, Draggin' Wing Farm, Water-thrifty Plants for Idaho

Scientfic Name: Iliamana rivularis
Common Name: Mountain Hollyhock, River Mallow, Maple Mallow, Streambank Globe Mallow

Description: Shrubby in appearance, with beautiful Maple-like leaves. Mountain Hollyhock dies back to the ground in winter and booms up in spring, rapidly reaching to 3' to 5' by early summer. It then puts on a show of the Intermountain West's prettiest wildflowers stalks of small cup-shaped mini-hollyhocks in shades of pink and rose.

Native Habitat: Mountain meadows, coniferous or aspen forests or brush communities 4,500-9,000 from Washington East to Colorado. Will adapt readily to lower elevations. Very cold hardy.

Cultural Requirement

Soil: From dry to moist, well-drained or ordinary garden soil.

Moisture Tolerance: Moderately drought-tolerant.

Sun/Shade/Preference: Full sun, part shade.

Transplanting: Easy.

Propagation: Seed.

Maintenance (pruning, fertilization, deadheading, division, irrigation, etc): Remove dead branches in late fall or early spring.

Insect, disease, or other problems: None of concern.

Landscape Value

Use in the Landscape: Can be used as a single specimen plant toward the back of a bed or combined with other tall flowers and grasses naturalized in a meadow setting. Could also be used or as part of a mountain brush, aspen understory planting or in riparian restoration.

Foliage: Large maple-like leaves.

Flower: Spikes of pale pink to deep rose flowers that resemble miniature hollyhocks.

Timing: June-September

Color: Pink-rose.

Fruit: Capsule.

Form: Large, irregular shrub-like form, dying to the ground in winter.

Ultimate Size: Three to five feet wide and tall.

Rate of Growth: Rapid annual growth each spring.

Suggested Plant Partners: Geum triflorum, Lewis Flax, any tall Penstemon.

Availability: Available at specialty nurseries.

Cultivars: None.

References:

USDA Plants Database.

Love, SL. 2009. Landscaping with Native Plants. University of Idaho Bulletin No. 862, p. 17.

Meyer, Susan et. al., Landscaping on the New Frontier, Waterwise Design for the Intermountain West, Utah State University Press, Logan, 2009, p. 187.

Mee, Wendy et. al. Waterwise, Native Plants for Intermountain Landscapes, Utah State University Press, Logan 2003, p. 133.

Earle, A. Scott, Idaho Mountain Wildflowers, Larkspur, 2001, p.98.