x Alcalthaea suffrutescens, as the name kind of suggests, is a result of crossing Althaea, herbaceous perennials that include Althaea officinalis (the marsh mallow), with Alcea species (hollyhocks).
Now we’ve got that out of the way, we can relax and enjoy the floral fantasy they were creating outside one of the tea rooms at RHS Garden Bridgewater a few weeks ago.
Prettiness was the order of the day: mallow-style buds wrapped up in their beautiful green leafery; chalice-shaped young blooms; flat, frilly flowers with a ruffle in the centre. Their dreamy colours – cream, soft apricot and pink – were accented by the purple Verbena bonariensis.
I’d been in the same area a few months before and was impressed to see how the Alcalthaeas had transformed the border with their injection of height, abundance and cottage garden style.
While these new Alcalthaea cultivars are supposed to be rust-free, some of my pictures suggest that’s a work in progress – but a worthy aim.
Shared as part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.
Susan Rushton 
These are really wonderful 🙂
Thank you!
Oh what wonderful florals 😀 😀 Great post 😀
It’s such a pretty effect and very cheery too.
They truly are lovely.
Thanks, Jo.
A lovely cross, perfectly complemented by the verbena!
It’s not often you see flowers towering over verbena bonariensis.
I’ve never seen anything like these before, they’re beautiful!
I was really happy to see them – and a first for me too.
When will these be available for us mere mortals? They are wonderful, and I want to grow some! A chalice held by leafery — lovely, lovely.
The plants seem to be fairly readily available in season, in the UK at least.
Beautiful delicate flowers 🙂
I’m glad you liked them.
Holy moley I love these and love the combination! Are seeds available in the market yet? Probably too soon. Can’t wait to grow these!
These are sterile hybrids, if I understand correctly.
Ahhhh. I should have known that they’d be sterile. The UK is such a perfect plant place. So lucky to have all of the rain.
Lovely crosses I’d never heard of
They were new to me too.
Really pretty flowers and an interesting cross. I would like to see some.
I don’t know how many plants were in the patch – a few, at a guess. One of those that looks better in a drift.
These do seem very pretty. I may have to revise my prejudice against ‘mucking about’ with things!
I suppose that Nature has done a fair bit off ‘mucking about’ too to get us where we are.
Well, I guess so.
Such a lovely combination! Somehow, I can never get my plants to mingle like that.
The verbena is very airy, which helps.