The spring garden is popping with all sorts of pollen-laden plants and pollinators are punctilious in their pollination proclivity. In particular, bees–both native and honey–are performing their tasks, adding to the pulchritude of the garden and the procreation of new plants.
Five Desert Globemallow shrubs, Sphaeralcea ambigua, that now grow in my full-sun garden, are powerhouse plants with pretty flowers; honeybees are passionate about these blooms. Four of the shrubs are pictured here, two in front, and two on either side toward the back, near the wall of the house. One shrub grows prolifically off-camera. I’m pleased as punch that I now have the perfect place to grow these peachy/sagey plants.
All five were damaged by the week-long hard freeze in January, but have rebounded with aplomb. I’m pumped about their growth and blooms.
Sun or clouds, honeybees visit the dreamsicle mallow blooms daily; they exit the blooms sprinkled with pollen, and buzz forth, from one bloom to the next. I can’t help but wonder: is it possible that honeybees become too pollen-packed to fly to their hives?
While Desert Globemallow is native to North America, it isn’t native here in Central Texas and can be a pain to procure. Mine have produced a couple of seedlings; with some good luck and careful transplanting, sharing of plants is in the plans.
In its native range of Nevada, Arizona, California, Utah and parts of Mexico, Globe Mallow tends to a longer bloom time than I’ve enjoyed here in humid Austin. These pretties’ bloom production will become pokey once summer’s heat pummels the garden. Except for occasional freeze damage during winter, the foliage is perfectly attractive year-round.
Prolific blooming at its finest, the Desert Globemallow flowers are preferred by pollinators and the pride of this gardener.
My Gardener Says... 
Your garden looks beautiful, Tina! A perfect example of the Ditch-the-Lawn movement. 👏🏼
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Thanks, Eliza! I ditched the lawn years ago and never regretted it. I live in a lawn-centered neighborhood, so unfortunately, the no-lawn revolution hasn’t hit here. 😦
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Well at least you are showing the way, change comes slowly!
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A very pretty and useful plant, always good to have such flowers for the early pollinators.
Garden is looking good.
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Thanks, Brian–I’m very happy with it! (In case it’s not obvious!)
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Dear Tina,
Your pretty “plossoms” and pollinators have produced your poetic profusion. Be assured that your plants’ pulchritude pleases other people as well.
More power to your pollen-packed plants!
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Well done, Tanja! I was wondering if anyone had noticed. :)
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I’m sure you had even more fun than I did. I didn’t count the number of “Ps,” but there were many! 🙂
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No paucity of p’s permitted, please.
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Out of curiosity, is there a reason you chose this globemallow species rather than S. lindheimeri? That’s the one I see most often: not here, but around Rockport, Uvalde, Bandera, and etc. It may be that yours doesn’t require the sandy soil that the woolly globemallow thrives in. In any event, both of them have those glorious flowers, and both are irresistable to pollinators. I’ve been watching a patch of them slowly spreading through the Rockport cemetery. They’re such fun to photograph!
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Mostly because the S. ambigua is (or has been) more commercially available, albeit rarely now. I’ve seen photos of the S. lindheimeri that you linked to, either through you or the FB Flora group. It’s a pretty one, but I’ve never seen it in a nursery.
Interestingly, there is another similar plant to mine. The leaves are smaller, less grey and the flowers are smaller. In the nurseries (the last time I looked), they always have it labeled S. ambigua but it’s definitely a different plant than the one I have. I was at the LBJWC about two weeks ago and saw something that looks like what the nurseries sell and they had it labeled S. incana.
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=spin2
It’s native to Texas and goes by the common name Grey Mallow. I suspect that’s what the nurseries are selling, they just don’t (or haven’t) had it labeled properly. I have one and my SIL has a couple. Not as showy, it’s still pretty and a really good pollinator plant, attracting skippers and native bees.
It was “my” S. ambigua that I first discovered in a nursery some years ago.
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Your post’s preliminary paragraph proceeds, positively packed, prettily punctuated with p’s.
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I knew you’d bring home the “p’s”–nicely done!!
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Now if only you’d featured our native peonia….
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The bees are really loaded down. I have not had my usual mass of bees on the hummingbird feeder. I have seen a hummingbird once, it may have been passing through. That is a great plant that survived the freeze. My plants are still struggling.
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They look prolific and healthy and happy in your garden–good to hear they recovered, and then some, from the winter freeze. It’s beautiful plant!
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Love the color “dreamsicle” – so accurate!
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They are quite beautiful. I’ve seen something that looks almost the same , but are very low-growing and much smaller here south of Abilene.
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I’ve really enjoyed having them in the garden, Sandra. There are several species, similar, but different in size, that are native in Texas and some of the western states. Lucky us!
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