California Native Flora » Purissima Tree Mallow http://www.californianativeflora.com Euan Currie's Drought Tolerant Patio Garden of Mostly Natives Mon, 13 Jun 2011 05:00:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Lavatera Purissima – Purissima Tree Mallow http://www.californianativeflora.com/plants/purissima-tree-mallow/lavatera-purissima-purissima-tree-mallow/ http://www.californianativeflora.com/plants/purissima-tree-mallow/lavatera-purissima-purissima-tree-mallow/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:28:00 +0000 Euan http://www.californianativeflora.com/?p=355 Lavatera Purissima is a tropical looking shrub, a hybrid of L. Assurgentiflora and L. Venosa which are native to California (http://www.malvaceae.info/Genera/Lavatera/californian.html). It will grow very quickly to over 8′ tall with dense foliage making it a good choice for a screen. The large purple hibiscus-like flowers appear from Spring through Summer. The blooms are very attractive, a glossy purple with dark veins. This evergreen plant grows in full or part sun and is drought tolerant once established.

I picked up this specimen from the Theodore Payne Foundation this past weekend. I had a chance to get Lavatera Assurgentiflora a couple of weeks prior to that but after some research I found that L. Assurgentiflora can have problems with insect pests that I know to frequent our garden. L. Purissima is known to be more garden tolerant and less prone to those pests so I decided that would be more appropriate for us.

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