by KYW’s Phran Novelli

Got any flowers that are the size of a dinner plate? Get a native Hibiscus, also known as Rose Mallow, and you’ll have loads of flowers so big, the first time I saw them I thought they were fake – made out of tissue paper or something. These giant versions look a lot like the tropical hibiscus flowers you can buy as annuals or houseplants but these native perennials are hardy here, so they’ll come back year after year.

Hibiscus moscheutos enjoys sun to part shade, and loves wet spots since they’re naturally found in swamps, but they don’t seem to mind drier areas at all. Flower colors range from pure white with a red eye, to a true bright pink with streaks of red, to various shades in between.

And as if these enormous native hibiscus flowers don’t attract enough attention from people – they attract plenty of hummingbirds and butterflies too.

(Photo: by Phran Novelli Hibiscus moscheutos, (pronounced ‘hy-BIS-kus mos-KEW-tos’).