5 Mountain Mallow - Anisodontea julii Seeds - Indigenous Evergreen Perennial Hedge Shrub

Anisodontea julii Seeds

African Mallow, Cape Mallow, Drakensberg Mallow, Mountain Mallow; Bergroos

The Cape Mallows, Anisodontea, is a genus of 20 fast growing species of shrubs and subshrubs indigenous to South Africa. They are evergreen with mostly toothed leaves that can be lobed, palmate, or elliptic. Anisodontea julii, valued for its quick growth, is a tall, graceful shrub with velvety, maple-like leaves and wonderful displays of large pink flowers throughout the summer. Anisodontea julii has an airy growth habit forming a sparse shrub of about 2 x 1 m, with very hairy stems towards the base. The soft, coarsely toothed leaves have 3 to 7 lobes and are about 75 mm in length, on long stalks. The deep pink to purple flowers, occurring in twos and threes, in the leaf axils, look like miniature hibiscus flowers. They are ± 40 mm in diameter and appear throughout summer, peaking in January and February. This vigorous grower, growing to its full height in a single season and then thickening out in the following years, is cultivated around the world. In the garden, Anisodontea grows bigger and better than it does in the wild. Anisodontea julii makes an excellent fast-growing flowering screen or hedge. It also works well in an informal border or as a temporary filler between slower shrubs when mass planted. In mixed plantings, Anisodontea julii looks best planted towards the back and combines well with contrasting herbaceous perennials.