Globe mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) is a beautiful perennial that is equally at home in an English-style garden or along a desert roadside. Like many native desert perennials, it has a delicate appearance that's deceiving; this is one tough plant. Globe mallow is a beautiful addition to the desert landscape. Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting Botanical name: Sphaeralcea ambigua
Common name: Globe mallow
Origin: Native to arid regions of the American Southwest
USDA zones: 6 to 9 (find your zone)
Water requirement: Low
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 3 feet tall and wide
Tolerances: Drought tolerant but does best with supplemental watering; handles reflected heat
Seasonal interest: Orange, red, rose, pink or white flowers appear in spring and intermittently throughout the year.
When to plant: Plant seeds or container plants in spring or fall. Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting Distinguishing traits. At first glance, globe mallow is a rather unassuming plant with gray-green lobed leaves. But once it blooms, it is suddenly transformed. Flowers that resemble small hollyhocks appear in spring, turning this desert perennial into a landscape star. Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting The surprise that globe mallow hides is that you can't tell what color the flowers will be on a particular plant until it blooms. The majority of globe mallow plants have orange flowers, but there are also plants that produce red, rose, pink or white flowers.

If you don't like surprises in regard to flower color, there are a few ways to know what color flower a particular globe mallow plant will produce.

• Buy plants from the nursery when they are flowering.
• Take a cutting from a globe mallow that has the flower color you want.
• If you like red flowers, there is a reliable red variety of globe mallow called 'Louis Hamilton'.

Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting If you are more of an adventurous type, roll the dice and plant a globe mallow without knowing what color it will be. Let it surprise you with its color once it blooms. Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting How to use it. The delicate-looking flowers of globe mallow make it a great plant to add to a perennial bed, creating a cottage garden look. Other landscape uses for globe mallow include as a foundation plant, around a swimming pool and even in a container.

Pair it with other native desert perennials, such as blackfoot daisy (Melampodium leucanthum), desert marigold (Baileya multiradiata), goodding's verbena (Glandularia gooddingii) and parry's penstemon (Penstemon parryi). Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting Globe mallow is also great paired with dark green succulents, like cow's horn agave (Agave bovicornuta), for terrific color and texture contrast.

Because globe mallow grows easily from seed, it is great for revegetating bare areas. Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting Planting notes. The requirements of this attractive perennial are few. It needs to be planted in well-drained soil in full sun and watered every other week in summer and once a month in winter (in the absence of rain) for the best appearance.

Globe mallow packs a colorful punch in the landscape and requires very little maintenance. Simply shear it back to 1 foot once it has finished flowering, to stimulate another flush of flowering.