Lavatera

The white or pink, sometimes veined with darker pink, flowers are shaped like single hollyhocks. Bushy forms reach around 2m (6⅔m) in height, smaller patio cultivars about half the size. The rather misleadingly named 'tree lavatera', Lavatera thuringiaca, is a tall, upright herbaceous perennial. Shorter annual lavatera are used as bedding plants.

Lavatera prefer free-draining soils and sunshine. Sheltered sites are best as taller plants can suffer windrock.

These plants don't like soils that are waterlogged in winter or exposed windy places.

Shrubby Lavatera maritimawith its with glamourous mauve and cerise flowersneeds a mild region to survive outdoors in winter. Elsewhere it's a good container plant that can be brought into a greenhouse for the winter to keep the worst of the weather off.